‘Human Factor’

To the Editor:

Re: your Dec. 11 editorial, why isn’t the “Jury’s Decision (the) Final Word”? The evidence was presented, witnesses testified and the Staten Island grand jury found no incriminating evidence against Officer Pantaleo, and thus rendered its decision in the Eric Garner case.

There is one key element that most detractors and those seeking to impose draconian rules and restrictions on the NYPD fail to comprehend, the human factor, and the loss of passion and vigor for the job and loyalty to the force and the people. You can quote and inject into the discussion all the statistics available, add in the political maneuverings and manipulations, the re-training, and the interaction of law enforcement and communities. It will do no good.

If the men and women of the NYPD lose faith and trust in their leaders, are the constant victims of derision and hostility from the people they have pledged to protect and serve, and have to live with the threat of lawsuits, they will lose heart and spirit. This will lead to what is now occurring, officers will second-guess themselves, question their every move, and this will affect their enforcement of the law.

There is a passage in Proverbs that reads, “Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein.” If the people and powers that be cannot find cause to temper their outrage and criticism, and they continue to dig a chasm between themselves and the NYPD, then the city will eventually fall, and succumb to a wave of crime and social upheaval, maybe not today or tomorrow, but it will happen. It is already happening in cities whose police force have had to undergo re-programming in what has come to known as “unconscious bias.” And the people who are performing these studies and imposing these ridiculous and outrageous policies, have never walked a beat, made an arrest, defended an innocent, and saved a life.

Bob Pascarella

Bronx