This week one of our staff gets to write about a subject he feels very passionate about.

On Sunday, July 13th Officer Melvin Santiago of the Jersey City Police Dept. was murdered. Some may say he died in the line of duty, which is true, but the fact is he was murdered. Some scum-bag, whose name escapes me at the moment, laid in wait for him to show up to an incident that said scum-bag created, and then shot Santiago before he had a chance to get out of his police car.

To add insult to injury, a makeshift shrine consisting of empty bottles of booze and two tee shirts was erected for this fine “upstanding citizen.” To make matters worse, his sweet adoring wife makes a statement to the effect of, “he should have taken more cops with him.”

So my question is, where’s the outcry? You know the outcry I’m talking about. It’s the outcry that appears when a cop shoots somebody who attacked him with a knife, gun, or car.

Where are the marches down “Main Street” denouncing this cowardly act?

Where’s the LLANJ and why aren’t they protesting the murder of a Latino police officer?

What if the situation was different? What if Officer Santiago saw him coming, had gotten the drop on him, and killed him? Oh the outcry, the rallies, the marches, the questions, especially the questions. Yea, I can hear it now.

How did you know that he intended to shoot you? Why didn’t you get out of your police car and inquire as to what his intentions were with that gun in his hand? Couldn’t you have used less than lethal force?

Then there would be the marches and rallies with the crowd carrying a picture of him in his communion suit. The civil rights activists screaming about the injustice. Politicians posing for photo ops with the downtrodden family and expressing their heart-felt sympathies. I think a better photo op would be some politicians getting together and tearing down that stupid shrine, at least that would be a positive statement.

And then there would be the lawsuits, let’s not forget about the lawsuits, because the lawsuits are the bottom line. There is a lot of money to be made when you sue a police dept. and a city. Think of all the empty bottles of booze you could fill with that.

But alas, there is no money to be made from the death of a 23 year old Latino police officer. There is only a great loss. He has no civil rights, and only his brother police officers to stand up for him and his family. He was only twenty three years old and on the force a short time. Had he lived, he could have helped hundreds of people, but not now.

It’s time for the politicians of this state and of this nation to say; Enough is Enough!!! Oh, but wait, they can’t do that. It might offend somebody and they might lose votes.

– Joe Bayona