Letter: Duke police should have enforced law in protest

I was one of the many students made late to class because of the protest Thursday, but this letter is not about the protesters. I have come to expect such incursions from these hypocrites. Where was the outcry over Kosovo? To give communist radicals more than one paragraph is a waste of this letter.

My concern was about the action, or lack of action, of our own Duke police. By choosing to let the protest go on for 30 minutes, they undermined their own authority and lowered the level of safety on our campus. Would the police give a thief a half-hour head start before pursuing him or her? Would the police let an assault on campus go on for 30 minutes before doing something? Would the police wait 30 minutes to ticket an illegally parked car?

Chief of Police Clarence Birkhead's statements make the protesters sound like they had planned a parade a year in advance: "Once we found out the particulars of the protest, we made an informed decision to allow it to happen." Did it bother him that the police were not informed ahead of time and had to reach the scene and essentially beg the protesters to stop in that time? Informed decision, indeed!

If that wasn't enough, the police seemed to be the only people not to realize a crime had been committed. According to our intrepid chief, "The number one priority was for the protesters' safety." What about enforcing the law? The protesters themselves called their actions "civil disobedience" and "disruption." They knew they were breaking the law. The police's number one priority should have been finding jail cells for all of them.

Thanks to the inaction of our police, a main road was shut down, countless students were made late and Duke was turned into a media circus by some protesting clowns. I only hope in more serious circumstances, more concern is given to the victims.