A Byram Township ambassador?

To the Editor: On Jan. 28, at approximately 4:50 p.m., Patrol Officer Matarazzo pulled me over for a routine traffic violation. I was compliant and friendly throughout. However officer Matarazzo’s verbal communication skills rank as one of the worst I had ever observed and his non-verbal communication was full of unprovoked contempt from the very beginning. I interview literally hundreds of potential camp counselors each year, from all over the world, and none in recent memory have verbal communication skills comparable to Officer Matarazzo. It could best be described as speed mumbling. He spoke at an incredibly fast pace and with such poor pronunciation that there were times were he was simply unintelligible. I had to politely ask him to repeat himself on several occasions as I simply did not understand him. When this did occur, he would visibly turn redder, clench his jaw and repeat himself in a more forceful and authoritarian manner. After I received the ticket, recognizing that ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law, I politely asked him to educate me, as I thought I saw a speed limit sign saying something different. A short way into his explanation, I interrupted by saying “wow, you talk really fast,” in a polite attempt to get him to slow down and speak clearer so I might actually understand. He took great offense at being interrupted and inquired in an aggressive tone whether I wished him to answer the question or not. My wife, who had been sitting quietly in the passenger seat up until now, leaned over and asked officer Matarazzo if it was really necessary to be so rude. He informed her that it was I who was rude for interrupting and quickly continued his brief explanation, of which I understood nothing. Realizing that further dialogue was fruitless, I said nothing else and we were on our way. I understand that on a daily basis, Officer Matarazzo has to deal with aggressive people who harbor ill-intent. It must be difficult work. However, it does not excuse him from exercising common courtesy to the citizens he is charged with serving who offer no provocation to his attempts to uphold the law. Officer Matarazzo is a miserable ambassador for Byram Township. On this occasion, he lacked even rudimentary communications skills and lacked common courtesy. He outright failed in two of the basic tenets of professional police work and should be reminded of his failure. As a side note, please pass on our appreciation to Officer Matarazzo. Due to his behavior, our hand as parents was forced to debunk a childhood myth: that policeman are always friendly people who are intent on helping and teaching others the proper way to behave. Our 6-year-old daughter, who was in the back seat and awoke during the traffic stop, asked me as we pulled away why the policeman was so mean. It was a delicate conversation that steered our daughter away from the previous notion that policeman are always our friends, to the notion that sometimes policeman are just not friendly. We reminded her that their job was to keep bad people from doing bad things and to inform the public and help where they can. However, we then informed her that just because someone is a policeman does not mean they should automatically be trusted to do the right thing. Clearly, wearing a badge does not shield them from possessing some of the more undesirable traits known to human beings. Officer Matarazzo proved that, and it was a shame that he could not conduct himself this day with the decorum that citizens should expect from professional policeman, and even a 6-year-old recognized it. Wes Supper Byram