• Reaching for their souls

• Viewpoints

JUDITH H. JONES, RICHARD C. AMBURGEY, CHERYL ANUSIEM, HORACE SMITH, PHILIP PRASCO, MILTON WALD, GRADEN HARGER, MANUEL ROCHA, PAT KELLEY, CLYDE J. CRIDDLE

DWI double standard? The Sept. 30 Chronicle story "Police captain on board gets DWI plea deal" gave a whole new meaning to using a "Get Out of Jail Free" card.

• Viewpoints

ARLENE KELLY, RICHARD LEUCHTAG, ALICE LEUCHTAG, DONALD C. TAYLOR, H. DO, KEITH FREUDENTHAL, JOHN PACK, CHARLES WESTMORELAND, L.W. ATKINS, MICHAEL SATTERWHITE

Police incidents recounted So the president of Houston Police Officers' Union, Hans Marticiuc, says, "Houston police officers would never jeopardize public safety" (Viewpoints, Dec. 23, "HPD, court system lacking").

• Viewpoints

ARLENE KELLY, ALLAN CALLOW, ELIZABETH MIMS, MARY RYAN, A.G. GOOCH, MICHAEL N. McNEILL, ROBERT T. GROSS, PAUL ANDERSON

HPD policy's tragic results After reading Mike Tolson's Sept. 26 article about the way law enforcement officers treat the mentally ill in Houston, I waited for families, friends, health-care providers and others working in the mental-health community to express outrage at such callous disregard for the lives of the mentally ill by those who are sworn to protect us - and I waited. But after reading Betsy Schwartz's (executive director of the Mental Health Association) Oct. 5 Viewpoints letter, it was I who was moved to outrage. How, in the names of our dead children could Schwartz pander so to the Houston Police Department?

• Viewpoints

ALLEN ARMSTRONG, EVELYN CHORUSH, DONALD E. FALLIS, STAN KULP, CHARLES D. TONEY III, ROBERT J. YANKOW, DEVON RIGHTER, TAMMERA HALPHEN, JOHN GRISSOM, RUSSELL SMITH, NEAL HOLDER, ARMON JORDEN, MARTHA SCHUMACHER, STEVE RICKELMAN

HPD killing wounds city I was shocked to read that one of the six Houston Police Department officers under investigation in the death of Pedro Oregon Navarro had been charged with a Class "A" misdemeanor ("Panel clears six from HPD of homicide; One indicted on trespass" Chronicle, Page One, Oct. 20). All law-abiding people should be outraged by the grand jury decision. We can no longer expect the jury system in this country to prevail against the worst police travesties and barbarisms. If gun-wielding police without proper authority or justification can bust in your door and gun you down without fear of reprisal, what can we expect from citizens? Respect for authority and government . . . ? I doubt it. And why didn't the Chronicle describe the makeup of the grand jury? That should be standard in high-profile cases.