SHOOTING: Shows disastrous trend

Sunday morning Wendy Woods and Eric Johnston left a friend’s house on their way to Wendy’s home. What happened when they got there is almost unbelievable. Eric was shot multiple times by police for questionable reasons at best!

When you are eight times more likely to die by police than by terrorists, it is a true police state! Did the terrorists win the war on terror? Why is this happening in the “land of the free, home of the brave?” Where did the “liberty and justice for all” go? Our prisons and jails are overcrowded, we have the highest amount of incarcerated people in the world! We must do something about this now, before it is too late, or is it?

This is a complete failure on our lawmakers, and law enforcement officials. The war on drugs, poverty and terrorism has made our citizens less safe, and less free. We sacrificed our liberty for safety and lost both!

I think the solution here is very simple: We need more accountability and transparency in government, and law enforcement. We need to require that all encounters between police and citizens be videotaped with audio. As well as get back to all trials being by jury, no more plea deals and no more judges deciding guilt or innocence.

Police need to know that they are not above the law, which is why they should also be elected by the people of their neighborhoods, and a resident of the neighborhood that they patrol.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER

Athol