(The following letter was sent to the president of NBC and the producers of "Law & Order" and to this paper for publication.)

On February 13, 2008, NBC aired an episode of Law and Order titled "Illegal." The plotline of the episode was a NYPD Auxiliary Police officer shooting a gun into a crowd of innocent civilians at a peaceful protest, killing a woman. In the episode, numerous derogatory statements against the auxiliary police were said, including calling an auxiliary officer a "wannabe," and saying they are not "real cops."

On behalf of the members of The New York State Association of Auxiliary Police, we feel these statements and this episode are a slap in the face to the auxiliary police program, and a complete disrespect to all auxiliary officers. Auxiliary police officers are volunteers from the local communities, serving without pay. They patrol the streets in full police uniform while on patrol and they run the same risk of getting injured or killed as regular paid officers. Auxiliary police in New York State operate under the authority of the Defense Emergency Act of 1951. Most are trained and registered with the NYS Department of Criminal Justice as peace officers. There are auxiliary police in all 50 states, with over 7,000 in NY State. There are auxiliary police in Canada and Puerto Rico too. We responded to the needs of the NYPD and other police departments on 9/11/01 and again to the blackout of 2003. Two NYPD auxiliary officers gave their lives protecting the public on March 14 last year bringing the total to 8 officers killed in the line of duty in NYC. I find it insulting that you would portray these volunteers as anything other than as heroes.

We demand NBC apologize to the members of the NYPD Auxiliary and have an episode of Law and Order that positively represents the NYPD auxiliary and all volunteer peace officers. We feel that the episode "Illegal" was not an accurate representation of the auxiliary police in many ways, and feel that the auxiliary police and its officers deserves a proper representation on Law and Order.

For more info please visit our webpage www.auxiliary-police.org

Glenn J. Kearney

President,

New York State Association of Auxiliary Police