INCREASE THE OVERHEAD

Re: Gangster gets Full Parole After Serving Nine Months in Prison, Jan. 30

Canada is about to move in a dangerous direction by allowing police to
commit illegal acts and to seize assets of suspected criminals of the
organized variety, turning the phrase innocent until proven guilty upon its
head.

But paradoxically, concurrent with these disturbing trends, a "drug empire"
gangster gets full parole after only nine months. Potential jail time, of
course, is merely business overhead for career criminals. And as all good
entrepreneurs seek to maximize profits by minimizing overhead, Canada has
become a favourite destination. Therefore, wouldn't it be wiser to increase
crime business overhead with tough, no-nonsense courts and parole boards
than to make police criminals and citizens guilty before being proven
innocent. Or is the government banking on the new gun registry?

W. Peter Griffin, Vancouver.