Senior drivers not respected or understood

I’m a senior citizen and a long-time resident of Kent. I’m also an avid reader of the Kent Reporter.

I read the feature article of Nov. 19, 2010 titled: “Senior driver at odds with Kent Police” with interest and thought it was one of the more interesting human interest stories published in the Kent Reporter. I also read Chief Strachan’s column of Dec. 24, 2010 and several articles related to his departure and selection of the new Chief, Ken Thomas.

Ms. Davis’ column resonated with my personal experiences and many of my neighbors’ frustrations in dealings with the police.

Therefore, we fully identify and sympathize with Ms. Pittier’s humiliating and obviously frustrating experience. This is an obvious case of mistaken actions by the Kent Police Department brought on by over-zealousness, insensitivity and incompetence.

It is common knowledge that seniors have much slower responses. Therefore American popular culture has little respect for them. It is also well known that the minimum qualifications for police officers require only a few months of police academy training. Given the complex laws that the police is tasked to enforce, it is no surprise that many police officers often don’t understand these laws. The busy work load further limits the effectiveness of the police. Police chiefs also recognize that good community relations and citizen cooperation are fundamental to effective police work.

I believe the young officer in question acted unthinkingly by blindly following standard procedures, because he was inexperienced and lacked good judgment. He might have also harbored age-related and/or other prejudices. Whereas delays in the Kent police station might also have been caused by the lack of competent on-duty personnel. In that case, training and discipline are the answers. I also believe that anger-management training for the arresting officer, as suggested by Ms. Davis, is necessary. Because I had one unfortunate experience of witnessing a young female police officer punching and kicking a frail and helpless homeless old man in a vacant parking lot. I still regret not having driven into the parking lot to inquire.

Racial, gender and age sensitivity training may also be necessary for all police officers.

Much of the fear and distrust expressed by Ms. Davis are prevalent in our society, because of unfair and sometimes illegal laws and police actions. Case in point is the use of traffic-light cameras for easy income by cities. Even the statistics used to measure crimes do not instill citizen confidence, because they may be influenced by other socio-economic factors. However, one of the things the police can do to instill confidence is to eradicate the common perception that police often treat average citizens with arrogance and hardened criminals with fear and respect.

It is heartening that Mayor Cooke and the Kent City Council had worked diligently to maintain a robust 185-strong police force. Hopefully, the timely selection of new Kent Police Chief, Ken Thomas will enable him to undertake prompt review of this case for a reasonable resolution. Given Chief Thomas’ impressive academic records and experiences in leading community-oriented policing, plus his professed goals of stablizing the department and “find new ideas to be even more effective”, I am optimistic for the Chief’s ability to address current inadequacies in the Department and restore mutual respect and confidence.

The unacceptable alternative would be further deterioration of community-police relations and police effectiveness, as well as costly potential law suits against the city.

Simon Yang

Kent