Recently, a woman was attacked, beaten and sexually assaulted in Anchorage's Connors Bog park. The assailant got away before police arrived. By the following day, he was identified from the DNA left on his discarded water bottle and arrested later that night at a Spenard hotel. This raises the question: Who is going to get this job done again and again, day in and day out, if our police departments are defunded or dismantled? The neighborhood safety patrol? A crack team of volunteer clergymen, professional mediators trained in de-escalation and conflict resolution and a couple of Ph.D. social workers? I don't think so.
Let's get real. While police practices and procedures need to be improved across the board, the police are absolutely essential for public safety and crime-solving at multiple levels. As the ultimate first responders, they put their lives on the line daily, the overwhelmingly vast majority of police officers do a fine job, and they deserve our respect and support.
William M. Cox
Anchorage
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