Columns/Opinion, Letters to the Editor

Scales of justice must still be applied evenly

Joel E. Gordon, Masontown
Do Kingwood and Preston County voters need to fix a two-tier justice system in our beloved county?
Based upon my experiences and battles as Kingwood’s chief of police and co-chair of a regional narcotics task force in the mid-1990s, it’s a more than a fair question to ask.

Now we are being told that “two former Kingwood Police officers are suing the mayor and city council, claiming they were forced out because they refused to disclose details of a drug investigation involving prominent residents.”

All of this seems all too familiar to me.

While I have gone on from my Kingwood Police chief days to become an author (“Still Seeking Justice: One Officer’s Story”) and senior journalist for a widely read national police publication, The Blue Magazine, I have often exposed and taken a stand against those in positions of power who use their titles and offices corruptly or ineffectively and will continue to do so in any future capacity.

We must insist that public officials, whether appointed or elected, are competent and remain trustworthy and accountable.

While all are innocent until proven guilty in our system of justice, citizens must insist that the entire criminal justice system work fairly without fear or favor and that the scales of justice are applied evenly without exception.