I am writing to address the lack of respect that Penn State students appear to have for the State College police. Apparently, we have neglected to realize how difficult it is to be an officer in a college town. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone of the burdensome tasks of our police.

To begin with, it takes a quite extensive effort to ticket all of the illegally parked cars in this town. Although the index finger muscles that are developed aid in the spraying of mace, I am sure that the arthritic pain developed by pushing the buttons on the ticket machines is extremely uncomfortable. Next, the task of arresting drunken students for stumbling home from bars and parties (public drunkenness) must be truly laborious. If a person cannot even walk straight, he must be incredibly difficult to apprehend.

I am positive that the rush-hour traffic really leaves our police officers nerve-racked and frustrated. Given these truly tedious and emotionally charged tasks, is it fair to judge a police force for something as miniscule as inciting a riot? I say no! Respect our valiant, overworked and underpaid road warriors. You never know when you might need them to create senseless violence and mass pandemonium at 1:30 a.m.