Patrick Eisenhart (letter, “Civilians, not law officers, found Boston bombers,” May 2) seemed harsh on law enforcement.

I was in Army law enforcement many years ago. Police do a lot of work investigating crimes, work that no one else knows about. Many hours goes into figuring out who did it and why.

Police officers have to make split-second decisions about what to do. Do they shoot or not shoot? Do they drive as fast as the person they’re chasing or back off and try to get them later?

It’s easy for people safe from harm to accuse them of doing wrong.

Of course it was a civilian who found the bomber. What are the chances that a police officer would drive by and see the bomber? That is one of the reasons the FBI puts out the 10 Most Wanted list. How many fugitives are caught because people watch “America’s Most Wanted”?

We are 160 miles away from Boston; what we saw was only a fraction of what the police did for work. I bet most people who live in the Boston area were glad to see the law enforcement and National Guard searching for the bombers.

Even after killing the “black hat” bomber, did we really know how many more bombers there were?

Eisenhart said, “We need law enforcement to do the kind of job we already have paid them to do … cost-efficient manner…”

How much is a life worth? What about the four who lost their lives? I would want the government to spend a billion dollars to keep my kids safe.

Police put their lives on the line every day. With limited resources, they do a great job keeping everyone’s family as safe as they can. We should thank them every time we see them.

Keith Quirion

Randolph

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