DO THE MATH ON CRIME

Dear Editor:

Are you in election mode?

It is called "contempt of government" when the governing party does
not provide complete figures for a program, so the Harper government
was ambushed by committee, and, surprise, had to go.

I am at a loss how some of the "grownups" we sent to Ottawa do not see
the benefit of keeping criminals off the street, to pick on one
program being discussed. So, they question how much it costs for
dealing with them.

Why do we not question how much we all save by not having them in the
streets?

These "grown-ups" tell us they do not want to see jails filled with
people caring for a pet marijuana plant. Nice try! Our real problem is
the addict who needs to steal $1,000 every day, (in his circles he
gets 10 cents on the dollar), in order to buy his $100 worth of
drug-of-choice. Do the math: $360,000 of thefts per year, plus
required repairs for property damage, to keep our street addicts
happy, or, $84,000 (MP Bill Siksay's figure) to lock him up, add a bit
more for treatment and make it an even $100,000 - and you and I as the
taxpayer are keeping a cool quarter of a million dollars in our wallet
for each person no longer roaming the neighbourhood to eye what's
loose in your carport.

As I said, do the math!

Ziggy Eckhardt

Burnaby