Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Political cartoon was a tasteless mockery

By Larry J. Todd

I am writing in regard to the DeCinzo installment for the Dec. 3 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times. I found his undisguised allusion, that the sentencing of an admitted drug dealer (who preyed upon children as young as 11 and 12 years of age) was somehow based on favoritism, to be a tasteless mockery of the Los Gatos/Monte Sereno Police Department and the criminal justice system.

The reality is that this town practices what it preaches. Zero tolerance for drug dealers who victimize young children means that we will take every recourse available to us to ensure that the law is strictly enforced.

If Mr. DeCinzo read the news articles written by his colleagues, he would know that the attention paid to the problem of people dealing drugs to our children started long before the Anthony Garcia case. So to refresh his memory, allow me to review recent efforts made by the Los Gatos/Monte Sereno Police Department to prevent drug dealers from preying on our youth.

In 1994, the Los Gatos/Monte Sereno Police Department placed an undercover officer in Los Gatos High School; the investigation resulted in 29 arrests for drug possession and drug dealing, including the mother of one student. That same year, we instituted the School Resource Officer program. In 1995, we conducted two other undercover operations at or near the high school.

The first resulted in 11 arrests, while the other provided us with the information to report that there was no evidence of drug dealing centered around A Place for Teens. In 1996, we initiated the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program in the elementary schools in Los Gatos and Monte Sereno. That same year, we lent a hand-held alcohol breath-tester to the high school for use in detecting students who came to dances after drinking alcohol. And, in 1997, I wrote to the sheriff on behalf of the high school requesting that the sheriff's drug-sniffing dog be provided for a one-day check for drugs on campus.

Each of these efforts was undertaken as a result of an expressed request for either prevention or enforcement, made by school officials or parents.

Almost all of these events were reported in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times. Yet DeCinzo [in his cartoon] has insinuated that only relatives of police department employees garner attention, despite the fact that there were multiple victims (all young girls) in this case. He has chosen to listen to those who sympathize and excuse drug peddlers, and has ignored reports written by his own news organization that clearly show the commitment of the Los Gatos/Monte Sereno Police Department to make school campuses safe for the children of Los Gatos and Monte Sereno.

Mr. DeCinzo can be assured that as long as I am chief of police, anyone who sells drugs to children in our community will be targeted with every resource available, regardless of who the victim may be related to. Zero tolerance will be practiced, not just preached! I urge him to reread the article on page one of the Dec. 3 issue. There he will find that I have written other letters calling for tough sentences. He conveniently has ignored that fact. Yet he has the audacity to impugn my integrity.

While political satire is a legitimate editorial forum, personal attacks are beneath a newspaper of supposed "general excellence" and wholly inappropriate for any news organization claiming to be unbiased. I can't help but wonder why DeCinzo is allowed to ridicule the efforts of so many people who are simply trying to make our schools safe. Is it because he, or even the management of the newspaper, feels that drug dealers make a worthwhile contribution to our community? Or, since so many of his cartoons are directed at me personally, is it because he (or someone within the newspaper management) has a personal agenda to discredit me and the police department?

Frankly, his cartoons are getting old and tiresome. He has insulted me and my family, the employees of the police department and their families, and continues to suggest that the residents of Los Gatos and Monte Sereno are not receiving a high level of service. He has mocked the endeavors of many volunteers (most recently those who presented the Halloween Haunted Forest) who work to enhance the quality of life in our communities. This truly is a pity. Los Gatos and Monte Sereno deserve better.

Larry J. Todd is chief of police of the Los Gatos/Monte Sereno Police Department.

Mr. DeCinzo selects his own topics. Letters, opinion pieces and cartoons appearing on the Opinion pages are the opinions of their authors, not unbiased news or the opinion of the Weekly-Times editors or management.--Editor

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