Sent this to Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee at bill.lee@sanfordfl.gov:
“”The encounter between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin was ultimately avoidable by Zimmerman, if Zimmerman had remained in his vehicle and awaited the arrival of law enforcement, or conversely, if he had identified himself to Martin as a concerned citizen and initiated dialog in an effort to dispel each party’s concern,”
This is disgraceful. How can you possible think this will help your standing in the community and your relationship with other honest citizens? I really hope you were pressured into saying this by politicians, otherwise you need to be in another line of work. You should know as well as anyone Zimmerman had every right to leave his vehicle to try and determine Martin’s whereabouts. He broke no law by doing so and was following Neighborhood Watch policy. How about saying, “The encounter was avoidable if young Martin had decided not to act like a criminal thug by launching an unprovoked vicious attack on Mr. Zimmerman”? Martin didn’t give George Zimmerman a chance to say more than, “No, I don’t have a problem”. Police reports are not supposed to be political. This one reeks of political pandering. I hope you’re ashamed. I don’t live in Sanford but know people who do. I will have to think twice about visiting them in the future.
Disgusted in Jensen Beach
“He broke no law by doing so and was following Neighborhood Watch policy.”
You’ve written something that has triggered a thought. Has any intrepid reporter looked into exactly what this community’s Neighborhood Watch policy is? What the written guidelines of action are, if any?