Apply officer discretion consistently

To the editor:

Respect for the police can only occur if there is a perception of consistency with the application of the law. I am not sure this is always the case in Cape Girardeau.

For example, the week before the beginning of classes at Southeast Missouri State University, a police cruiser was parked in the small shopping center on northbound Sprigg Street in a hard-to-see location with radar aimed at cars going too fast down a steep hill. No doubt numerous tickets were written for what is a minor infringement.

Fast forward to Sunday. Without going into specific details, an officer was called to an accident where one driver rolled through a stop sign and did a U-turn in front of an oncoming car. No ticket was written -- "officer's discretion" -- even though the negligence of one driver endangered other drivers and resulted in an accident.

I applaud the policy of officer discretion, but was the same discretion allowed for those drivers caught speeding on Sprigg Street or elsewhere? This is where the perception of fairness comes in.

If speeding in a particular location is a public danger, shouldn't police park in visible positions as a deterrence rather than hiding to catch the crime after it is committed? If the speeding doesn't present a real public danger, why ticket it in the first place? Officer discretion is a good concept, but it needs to be applied in all situations consistently.

PETER GORDON, Cape Girardeau