William Nolan’s recent letter (Voice, Oct. 9), which criticizes Eric Zorn’s excellent column on the police brutality issue (Metro, Oct. 2), is simply wrongheaded. And wrongheaded in a dangerous way. As president of the Fraternal Order of Police (Lodge No. 7), he should be concerned about the rank and file rather than that minority of policemen who consider themselves a law unto themselves.
Nolan refuses to think through this issue. He makes statements that are simply not factual: “Every time an officer uses force to effect an arrest, he is accused of brutality” is a good example. He is mean-spirited (“. . . so-called veteran attorneys”) in speaking of the attorneys who represent defendants in these cases. More important, he confuses the issue; “necessary force” does not mean “excessive force.”
Such knee-jerk responses do not serve the great majority of the rank and file, whose courage and resourcefulness we can never repay. Policing is the toughest, most stressful, thankless job I can think of.
Until the citizens of Chicago, beginning with Mayor Richard Daley, realize that it makes good sense to root out the minority who give the whole force a bad reputation, there will be little change.
