LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in the Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages. Letters are not published online.

Fight for police accountability, amend

Act 111

Pennsylvania’s Policemen and Firemen Collective Bargaining Act (Act 111) should be amended to bar police unions like the Fraternal Order of Police from mounting any meaningful resistance to measures that hold officers accountable for their conduct. The FOP should be able to collectively bargain over normal employer-employee points of tension like hours and wages, but not accountability. When you expend deadly force on behalf of the state, you shouldn’t have a union shielding you when you deploy that force in an unjust manner. According to The Inquirer’s Sunday story, “A Threat to Police Union Clout,” calls for amending Act 111 are gaining bipartisan support, and even FOP president John McNesby seems somewhat open to reform. Call your state representative and state senator and ask them to amend Act 111.

Thomas Koenig, Oreland

FOP president out of touch

My grandfather was a chief of police, and my father was a captain who also served the same town for his entire career. I respect and support police officers. However, in reading the article “A Threat to Police Officer Clout,” I could not believe the quote from FOP president John McNesby: “Law enforcement across the country is suffering because of those couple of a—holes in Minnesota.” If Mc-Nesby truly believes that the murder of George Floyd is the reason that there are calls again for police reform, he really needs to resign. Is he saying that all of the other murders at the hands of police officers of people of color were not signs that police reform has long been needed across the country? It is hard to see how he is going to be the person to help make people of color feel safe or be safe in Philadelphia.

Lauree Padgett, Voorhees, lauree.padgett@gmail.com

Go to rally and you make others ill

Trudy Rubin’s “While Europe, Asia reopen, America sets global example of doing it wrong” (June 18) raises questions of medical responsibility. President Donald Trump has begun a series of rallies where people can become infected with COVID-19 and go home to infect many others. His supporters made a conscious decision to go to a rally and risk infection. But are our hospitals obligated to treat them? We might consider a waiver from the community that states they will be denied medical treatment in hospitals if they get COVID-19 at a Trump rally. Making a decision to risk harming other people and then actually harming other people needs to be punished. There are severe consequences for the rest of us.

Jane Gee, Jenkintown, janegeemail@gmail.com

More statues of

Black heroes needed

I read with shock and dismay that of 1,700 statues on public grounds in Philadelphia, only one, of Octavius V. Catto, is of an African American (June 21). I call upon the Philadelphia Art Commission to accept community input on creating a large number of statues that will celebrate the history of Black Philadelphians and Black American heroes. Perhaps we could start with Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, who saved thousands of white and Black Philadelphians during the 1793 yellow fever epidemic. I have created a Change.org petition to request the following: We are petitioning the Philadelphia Art Commission to solicit submissions from the public for statues of great Black Philadelphians and great Black Americans. We are petitioning the Art Commission to pledge to erect at least 100 statues of Black individuals within Philadelphia public grounds by 2030. The link is: https://www.change.org/buildstatues-of-black-heroes-in-philly.

Kirsten Martin, Philadelphia