LAW ENFORCEMENT'S SELF SERVING EFFORTS

Re: Rep. McCollum Works To Ensure Public Safety(letter, May 18)

Perhaps Louis Freeh, director of the FBI, doth protest too much. He
lambastes Robyn Blumner's comments while ignoring the fact that her
original source for the April 25 column's theme was Bill McCollum's
Orwell Award, given to him by the Computers, Freedom and Privacy '99
Conference in Washington D.C.

Business and industry are not the ones behind these attempted
invasions of our privacy by Washington. Law enforcement is the driving
force here. In a never-ending quest for a new enemy and a new "war" to
justify the huge expansions in both enforcement and imprisonment,
McCollum and his ilk will stop at nothing to get any legislation
passed that will increase growth in those areas.

Repeatedly citing concerns about "dangerous criminals, drug dealers
and terrorists," Freeh tells us that law enforcement fully supports
McCollum's efforts. Of course, it does, as bills like these are what
provide the financial lifeline for the authorities to escalate
whatever war they are focusing on today.

With a jail population in our country approaching 2-million, more than
half of whom are non-violent offenders, it is reasonable to suggest
that the percentage of our population that falls into the dangerous
criminal and terrorist category is far below 1 percent. Very simply,
the other 99.5% of us do not wish to have our privacy rights trampled
in an effort to stop the 0.5 percent. McCollum and Freeh would do well
to work in the interest of the larger share of our population and to
refrain from playing the "terrorist" card in order to use our own tax
dollars against us.

Stephen S Heath
Largo