Your article on the police action in Pershing Park (“Boss Hogtie,” 1/17) gave me the heebie-jeebies! If even half of the accounts are accurate, Chief Charles Ramsey should be reprimanded or even fired. He has taken it upon himself to subvert the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens in the name of…law and order? I recall similar reports on the police handling of bikers during the same protest—and their self-satisfied position of having deterred some kind of potential violence by leading the bikers directly into an arrest sweep. Just who does Ramsey think he is?

And what of the cops on the “front lines” in riot gear? Can we no longer trust that a police officer is a symbol of safety and goodwill? Were these men incapable of using their own good judgment in the handling of the “dangerous” protesters? Thank goodness for cell phones, which allowed people to contact family, friends, and attorneys.

I sincerely hope that the investigations under way will result in a clear picture of events and not be spun, by the current mayor’s administration, into a self-glorifying account of the police force and its sacred mission to maintain civil peace.

Silver Spring, Md.