Letter to the Editor
Editor of Police Union Newspaper Upset
Dear Editor,
       As a 25 year veteran of the Boston Police Department and editor of my union’s newspaper Pax Centurion, I am appalled by your reprehensible words and deeds in regards to the Boston Police Department. Three individuals out of an estimated 2,300 sworn officers are alleged to have engaged in criminal conduct. If those charges are substantiated, no one will condemn them louder than I and my fellow officers. In any group of employees, whether teachers, lawyers or doctors, a small percentage will, unfortunately, fail to live up to high standards.
       Massnews, however, has recently hired an airplane trailing a banner proclaiming the Boston Police Department to be corrupt. It seems that only police officers are subject to these broad-brush smears, as few would ever think of condemning, for example, all doctors because a few engaged in Medicaid fraud. As a social conservative, I once actually considered subscribing to your newspaper, as I truly believe that the major media is awash with liberal drivel. But kooks on the left are as bad as kooks on the right, and in many ways very similar. You obviously represent the far-right wing-nuts, who concoct conspiracy theories and despise the police as much as your idiot relatives on the other end of the political spectrum.
       I find your efforts to smear my entire department, comprised of hundreds of hardworking, beleaguered officers who put their necks on the line every day performing a thankless job for morons like yourself, utterly contemptible. Massnews should be ashamed of itself, but perhaps, as I suspect, you have no shame.
       With sincere disgust,
James W. Carnell
Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association
Editor, Pax Centurion

Editor's Response
We Agree with Editor of Police Union Newspaper
        We agree that the overwhelming number of Boston police are honest and hardworking. That’s why we are upset to see them being sullied by a few political leaders at the top. If anyone will look at the FBI’s “Affidavit,” they will quickly see that the few bad ones were being ignored by Mayor Menino.
       Inasmuch as the Mayor is a political ally of the owner of the Boston Globe, we cannot expect any honest reporting from that newspaper unless their nose is pushed into it. As you point out, our airplanes are certainly having an impact.
The message is getting out. Thank you for pointing that out so clearly. You do not need a subscription to read us. Just point your computer every day to www.massnews.com.
       Don’t forget that we were founded by the lawyer who started Mass. Lawyers Weekly, Attorney J. Edward Pawlick, and still reads us every day. We try to follow his model of following the truth, no matter where it leads.
Thank you for your letter.