It’s understandable that in these difficult economic times, sacrifices must be made and people end up suffering. No one is exactly eager to be sacrificed, and seeing somebody else get sacked brings a mixed feeling of relief and of unnamed fear: “What if I’m next?”

However, in the case of New Haven, the only people that are being sacrificed are the people who are supposed to be protected. On Thursday, Feb. 17 at roughly 11 a.m., a portion of the New Haven Police Department took it upon themselves to put on a spontaneous protest in front of City Hall over the firing of 16 policemen.

Quoted on the front page of the New Haven Register the same day, Police Union President Sgt. Louis Cavaliere spoke of the possibility of New Haven residents being harmed by the lack of police presence, and is quoted by William Kaempffer as saying: “The people of New Haven are going to have to start arming themselves, defending themselves and doing whatever they can to protect their property.” Though it is unlikely that neither Kaempffer nor Cavaliere could have foreseen the events that would unfold, the protest would only serve to further underline the ambiguity between citizen and police officer: do not the same laws apply to them?

It seems the residents of New Haven will see the men and women in blue in different light. Who will take the law to the law enforcers?

-submitted by Marcin Mazurek