Emily Alma's LTE

Thank you for covering the supervisor candidates forum on law enforcement put on by Concerned Citizens for Justice last Thursday. I was there listening to everyone’s responses, and I think Jake Hutchinson summarized it succinctly, in an organized way, particularly with three crucial issues regarding law-enforcement:

Police reform - all three candidates appeared to agree will require more in-depth training to make real improvements.

Use of military equipment - cautions of the dangers of a militarized community, yet possible benefits.

Citizen oversight of law enforcement- the three all agreed would be beneficial to our community.

Although all three were in agreement on many of the questions, current supervisors Lucero and Ritter demonstrated greater understanding of the complexities of law enforcement as well as complexities of the position of supervisor. Their responses indicated the professionalism and attention to detail required to serve our county in this capacity. Ritter has my vote, and Lucero would have my vote if I lived in her district.

One clarification is that candidate Pete Durfee did not did not respond at all to CC4J’s invitation, whether or not he would attend - after numerous efforts to reach him. It’s unfortunate that Durfee, who is in law enforcement, did not deign to respond to the invitation, much less show up and provide his perspective.

Emily Alma