Change Is Good

Police Chief Art Acevedo of Austin is now enforcing excessive force policies which many officers were violating with little or no consequences. Loopholes and exploitation have allowed officers to remain on the force after violating not only policy but the people whom they assault. I agree with the author of this article. It is about time that someone takes action to put an end to use of excessive force by the city police department. A group of officers can subdue a single 18 year old without the use of a taser gun or a 60 year old woman without shooting a flash bang, two situations which I personally know about. There must be a problem with a city administration that allows public employees like this to abuse power and let them keep their jobs. The article says that allegations were made against former police chiefs who may have played favorites, giving less punishment to officers they knew and more punishment to those they did not know, who committed the same violation. A change to raise the standard for officers is needed. Violating officers should not be allowed to remain on the force. Hopefully, Acevedo’s plan to clearly spell out the consequences of violation will help correct the problem. Also, consistent punishment for violators is a good idea so that abusive officers are not allowed to slip through the cracks. The author’s example of Gary Griffin is good because it states that not only did this misconduct cause pain and misfortune for Joseph Cruz, but it also cost the city of Austin a $55,000 settlement. His audience, the local Austin community can plainly see that, in more ways than one, we cannot afford for these abuses to continue.

Huricane Victims Can Not Help Themselves

I don't think our state officials are working together to take care of the problems caused by Hurricane Ike which some of our citizens find all too real. Some of our senators and other state officials are only thinking of the area of Texas in which they live. We have people in our state who are without homes and electricity, and some of these officials are proceeding with business as usual. For example, Representative René Oliverira has continued holding fundraisers. According to Oliverira’s spokesman, J.J. Garza, “Our area of the state is a good deal away from what's going on." The problem here is that we need all of our officials to be working on what to do after the disaster, not just during. Officials who are out running their campaigns could be out raising money to make a difference in the lives of the needy. Not all state officials are as inconsiderate as Oliverira. According to Mark Miner, Rick Perry's communications director, "it's not appropriate, as people are displaced, to be raising political dollars." I think these articles are worth reading because I don’t believe that many of our officials are doing a good enough job of staying on top of current issues. To have an impact on the enormous issues hurricane victims currently face, all of our officials need to be working together. I would like a better and faster outcome for those displaced by Ike than what occurred for Katrina victims, who have never fully recovered from the catastrophe in 2005. Thousands of Texans are in need of serious help, and our officials need to be out there aiding these people even though their area of the state is not badly affected.