Dear Editor,

As a federal and local law enforcement officer of 33 years, I tend to agree with you that there is something wrong with society concerning the violence in our communities. Social scientists have been working on this problem for years and have not made much progress.

In the column, “Listen, don’t shout,” which was published in the July 15, 2016, edition, you wrote, “When the Guardian newspaper reports that, in 2015, American police killed young black men at a rate five times higher than white men of the same age, something must be wrong.”

I would like to give you a little perspective on how these ideas get started. First, many articles and research by the liberals and others are written to justify their cause. Their research does not have research citation as to where they found the facts they are discussing.

There is nothing wrong with the rate of arrest being higher for blacks than whites in certain areas of the country.

The fact of the matter is, black citizens break the law and are arrested more than any other race. There are several scholarly articles that provide the facts. I will provide you with a few suggested resources:

• Brantingham, P. J., & Brantingham, P. L. (Eds.). (1981). Environmental criminology. Beverly Hills: Sage.

• Brantingham, P. J., & Brantingham, P. L. (1984). Patterns in crime. New York: Macmillan.

• Fattah, E. A. (1991). Understanding criminal victimization.: An introduction to theoretical victimology. Scarborough, ON: Prentice-Hall Canada.

Roger L. Tomberlin, MCJ MSM

Franklinton