Sir:

Why do you and Mike Ford postulate and threaten the Police Chief with dismissal over the matter of free escorts to funeral processions? This is 2010 A.D. not 1910 A.D. It is time for you both to move into the 21st century and stop interfering with the everyday running of the Police Department.

Chief Bill Press has been like a breath of fresh air to Fairhope, and a man of his caliber has been long overdue in the position of head of Fairhope Police Department.

Crime in this area is a time bomb waiting to go off. Allow him to make best use of his resources in the fight against crime for the benefit of the public as a whole. If funeral escorts are still considered necessary in this day and age, then let them be done by police on overtime and the funeral service be billed appropriately.

The word “Police” means, generally, the arrangements made in all civilized countries to ensure that the inhabitants keep the peace and obey the law. The word also denotes the forces of peace officers (or police) employed for this purpose.

“The Primary Object of an efficient police is the prevention of crime: the next that of detection and punishment of offenders if crime is committed. To these ends all efforts of police must be directed. The protection of life and property, the preservation of public tranquility, and the absence of crime, will alone prove whether those efforts have been successful, and whether the objects for which the police were appointed have been attained.” — Sir Richard Mayne, 1829, Metropolitan Police, London

Resident of Fairhope for 19 years

retired detective

Metropolitan Police

New Scotland Yard

London