To the editor:

I do not live in Lawrence, but every day I work and shop in your beautiful city. As a customer service representative in a local grocery store, I had to spend time this week with a Lawrence Police Department officer who was taking a statement from me concerning a fake travelers check that had been presented to our establishment.

After getting the information the officer needed from me he had to use our store phone instead of his radio to call headquarters to get a case number – get this! – because his radio didn’t work because the battery was dead and there are no funds to buy new batteries! When I asked more questions I was told that officers also could not practice shooting because there were no funds to purchase practice ammunition!

I would support City Commissioner Mike Dever in his attempt to pass a sales tax that would “take care of what we already have,” but since I’m not living in your city, I won’t get a chance to vote for that sales tax. I am truly saddened that city commissioners would put brave people on the line and send them into the “danger zones” with radios that don’t work and without the practice/training tools they did to do the jobs they have been assigned to do.

Debbie McGee,

Baldwin City