To the editor: The Dallas police shooting is a national tragedy, and the nation has to take action without taking sides. We shouldn’t be either “for” the police or “for” the victims of police shootings. (“Police officers resentful, afraid and less motivated after Dallas massacre, Gardena chief says,” July 8)

Thinking in tribal terms now is a knee-jerk reaction. We cannot regard this kind of problem as an us-versus-them conflict. We can and should be very much pro-police and very much pro-victims of senseless shootings.

Somehow we can spend tens of millions of dollars on multiple investigations of Benghazi — but we can’t have a national conversation about reducing police-citizen violence ?

This is not a partisan issue, this is not a police issue, and this is not a black lives issue. This is a national dereliction of duty, and five brave police officers have paid the ultimate price for the nation’s shameful inaction.


James Cole, Palmdale

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