Ryan R. Heller: Police do great work, but they need the state’s help

Re “Leaders discuss plan to target gang violence” (Page 1A, June 18): You never know when the gang criminals will strike. Last week, my car was stolen from a Merced neighborhood. It’s a nightmare nobody should go through – but there was an unexpected silver lining. From the time officers showed up to take my report, to the day my car was thankfully located and recovered, I was treated with the utmost respect and professionalism by several members of our police force, especially officers Joe Opinski, Emily Foster and Natalie Enero, and Sgt. Joe Weiss. I’m proud to live in a community with such talented and hardworking people keeping us safe.

As such, I was really struck by what happened at the public safety summit when protesters showed up and said that we should reject a multi-million dollar state grant for combatting gang violence through youth mentorship and intervention programs and intelligence operations. These protestors they think our cops get too much funding already. Senator Anthony Cannella responded, addressing law enforcement, saying “For every detractor who shows up here today, you have hundreds of supporters that really appreciate you.”

I’m proud to be one of them.

This story was originally published June 20, 2016 at 3:15 PM with the headline "Ryan R. Heller: Police do great work, but they need the state’s help."