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Editorial:
MPD is here to serve and protect

In light of isolated incidents of misconduct by certain MPD officers, there has been much focus on negative aspects of the Department and police officers in general. We must remind the Wesleyan community of the obvious– the MPD and police officers in general serve and protect the community. The majority of police officers in Middletown do their job well. In particular, Sergeant Pessina has done a great job with his involvement with the Wesleyan community. 

We also must recognize another obvious, but important point. It is easy to blur the line between police brutality and police misconduct, especially when caught in the spirit of a rally. We must not confuse the two terms. While there have been incidents of misconduct by certain MPD officers in dealing with Wesleyan students, we cannot call this brutality. To do so would be to trivialize the impact of such brutal acts that unfortunately occur in the US, but fortunately have not occurred at the University. 

The Wesleyan community should rally to end the misconduct which has occurred in the past by certain MPD officers and the alleged misconduct in Ray Dolphin’s arrest. However, we must remember that the MPD as a whole is not to blame. We must also not throw out
the term ‘brutality’ loosely, when ‘misconduct’ is meant.