Letters: THANKS, COMMISH, FOR DOING IT RIGHT . . .

THANK you, Commissioner Ramsey, for your response to the police behavior of May 5.

Thank you for risking the ire of those under you to insist on standards of professionalism.

As a lifelong resident, I not only know its history with the police, but I've lived it. I don't only mean the tuxedo with a billy club in the cummerbund or the naked, outdoor strip search of black men on a city street.

No, it's much more personal. You are over a department with a long legacy of brutality that has pretty much continued with no accountability.

So thank you for your swift action, for your "intestinal fortitude" to take what I expect will be a difficult position. (The FOP will make sure of that!) May God bless your tenure with continued and increased success.

John A. Petty II, Philadelphia

It's a disgrace that the commissioner fired those officers. The three thugs just finished shooting up a corner of people, they deserved to get shot.

Mike Quinn, Philadelphia

Rather than continue to ignore the elephant in the room, it is time to announce its presence and deal with it: Race is still an issue in everything that happens in this once-proud city.

When African-American men are kicked, stomped and punched by police, we have the always honorable Rev. Al Sharpton and the classy J. Whyatt Mondesire chiming in with great concern for the civil liberties of men with whom they share absolutely nothing in common other than the color of their skin.

This is not to make light of the over-the-top beating of these young men. What happened was horrible and very little good, if any, could come from it. Of course, we'll never know because charlatans from the outside feel this city can't take care of its own problems - and after seeing how our mayor and police commissioner handled this situation, I'm not sure they are incorrect.

Since when do those suspected of wrongdoing deserve due process and those we trust to protect us from the wrongdoers don't receive the same civil liberties Mr. Sharpton is always trying ensure certain people of having?

Brian McGoldrick

Philadelphia