To the editor:

YES!!!!! Sheriff (Wayne) Coats is right. It takes dedication to be a law enforcement officer. But it also requires more -— like integrity, fidelity, honesty.

We live in sad times, indeed, with much of society holding anti police attitudes. But we must also look close to the source for these negative feelings. When you have bad police, committing crimes against innocent people, and never being held accountable, this is partly responsible for these attitudes. Qualified immunity encourages a few bad officers to step up their abusive practices. And if all these lawsuits are so frivolous, why do local governments and law enforcement agencies keep loosing them? The cause and cure are in the departments, not at the feet of the public.

One night, in 2015, John Livingston was killed by a Harnett County deputy. Was the deputy brought to trial? NO!!!

John’s family and a few other injured people filed a so-called frivolous lawsuit that resulted in a $6 million payout. [An insurer of the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office agreed to pay $6 million to settle claims of repeated “excessive and unreasonable force” raised in lawsuits against that deputy and other officers. Former Harnett County Deputies Nicholas Kehagias and John Werbelow, former Sheriff Larry Rollins, current Sheriff Wayne Coats and Deputies Michael Brandon Klingman and John Knight were specifically named in the suits and were accused of engaging in “grossly improper conduct” and applying “excessive and unreasonable force.” One of the cases cited was the shooting death of John Livingston. Coats said the settlement was “not in any way an admission of guilt to any actions of the deputies.” “$6M payout settles excessive force lawsuit” appeared in The Daily Record on June 18, 2021.]

The days of the “Blue code of silence” need to close. No more laws for thee, but not for me attitudes amongst law enforcement agencies.

Jerry Rivas

Sanford