To the editor:

The Lawrence Police Department that I love and served on for so many years took a bashing in your Nov. 24 newspaper. I’d like to ask the judge and defense attorneys if they have ever asked a witness a question to see if they were telling the truth or to see if the answer that they got was the truth. You see, they have a hard job trying to get to the truth to see if we, the police, have enough evidence to bind a defendant over for trial or to see if this person is innocent of a crime.

Ask the attorneys if they haven’t ever badgered a witness on the stand to try to get at the truth. Maybe the juvenile’s mother and defense attorney would rather the officer collect the evidence and sue the mother and employer. That would, of course, put the defense attorney on the officer’s side. Ask the judge if his ruling has ever been overturned by a higher court. And if it was, did he have to go back to law school?

Of course the truth is what we all are trying to get at. Because wouldn’t it be great if the police could start their questioning with “do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God” Instead of “you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can be used against you in court”?

Don Dalquest,

Lawrence