By now everyone knows about the incident in Memphis that resulted in a tragic death and the firing and prosecution of five Memphis police officers. What still bothers me, though, is why it happened.
I’ve watched the videos and read the stories, but the one thing I don’t understand is why the traffic stop occurred in the first place. What jacked those cops up so much that they responded as they did? Nothing will justify what they did, but why they did it is valuable information. That’s sometimes called a “training scar,” and that question must be answered.
I am a little stunned that the police chief has repeatedly said she doesn’t know what reason initiated the stop. We need to find out so this can be prevented from ever happening again.
Robert Stasch, retired Chicago Police Department lieutenant, O’Hare
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Don’t make ride-hail passengers pay surcharge for bad drivers
Regarding your editorial on Jan. 25 on Uber and Lyft deactivations: I am an Uber and Lyft driver with over 15,000 rides in Milwaukee. I have had my account deactivated two or three times due to false allegations; that is 0.0002% of my rides. My rating on Uber is 4.96 and my rating on Lyft is 5.0. My account was reactivated immediately after calling Uber or Lyft. Each call took maybe half an hour. It was an inconvenience, yes, but it didn’t affect my livelihood.
The idea of adding a surcharge for passengers, due to false allegations and suspension of a driver’s account, is ridiculous. I have heard many stories from passengers of bad drivers, and I would wager that bad drivers (playing music too loud, inattentive, distracted, impolite and unfriendly) receive the most false allegations, but even then I would bet those false allegations are well below one out of a thousand of their rides. False allegations are not an issue for the vast majority of drivers. However, if a driver’s rating is low and they receive a false allegation, they may have more difficulty getting their account reactivated.
The bottom line is, for all drivers, do your job and do it well, keep your rating high, and false allegations will be a non-issue. My tips for drivers: Greet every passenger by name and confirm their destination. Be friendly and polite. Play good ambient music at a low level to set the mood. Keep several car lengths behind the car in front to ensure a smooth ride ( I stay a good six car lengths behind when I can). Never tailgate! Always say thank you and wish the passengers a good night at drop off.
I have fun driving for Uber and Lyft and I really enjoy it. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be working for them, but my hope Is they will weed out the bad drivers and pay the good drivers more.
Paul Geiger, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
