DEPUTIES GOT OFF EASY

The three Manatee County deputies got off easy compared with the mandatory
minimum sentences some of the people they framed got (Florida/Metro, Aug. 15).

The lengthy sentences given under the drug laws are supposed to be a
deterrent. Why not dish out the same to the rogue cops? The worst any of
them got was a little over five years in a minimum-or medium- security
prison. Shouldn't they face 10- or 15-year sentences in a maximum-security
prison with all the accompanying rapes and beatings those they framed had
to deal with? I would bet such sentences would do a lot toward keeping cops
from turning rogue.

Another thing that really gets me is the referring to members of drug law
units as ``elite.'' It conjures up the image of the Nazi SS and its status
as an ``elite'' unit. I guess elite means being a law unto themselves.