ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 4, 1993                   TAG: 9307070428
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: F-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BRAVE OFFICERS NEED PROTECTION

AS ONE WHO has had more than a speaking acquaintance with criminals and law-enforcement officers, I say "bravo" to the men who recently participated in the testing of an incapacitating spray, OC, as reported in the June 26 Roanoke Times & World-News ("Law enforcement's secret weapon is hot stuff"). It's time those brave men and women had some added protection.

It is also time that the general public showed its appreciation to the many souls who daily lay their lives on the line for their fellow citizens.

Principle causes of crime are laziness, ignorance and public indifference, which are too often distorted and magnified by irresponsible writers of fiction and then glamorized by directors and producers of entertainment books and films. Even though lawbreakers usually get their just desert, violence portrayed between the beginning and end of these productions is quite often damaging. Flagrant violations of law and social standards beget the same, and more.

It's time that some of the agonizing and verbalizing by bleeding hearts should be refocused upon the victims. They should know that, eventually, they will become victims themselves unless measures such as OC are employed. Right on volunteers and law-enforcement officers. JOHN H. YEATTS MEADOWS OF DAN 


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