CIVIL RIGHTS APPLY TO EVERYONE FOR GOOD REASONS

Re: Drug dealers, not cops, deserve to be punished, Letters, April 22

Letter writer Robert Barg argues that the drug dealers beaten by Vancouver
police officers in Stanley Park got "a well-deserved tune-up." For once, it
is nice to read someone saying what needs to be said in dealing with crime:
We need to stop pandering to the "rights" of criminals. We need cops who
aren't afraid to stand up to vile criminal elements. We need cops who will
do something about the repeat offenders.

We need to borrow a couple of policing tactics from the drug-free states of
South America, Africa and the old Eastern Europe, and start dishing our
"real" punishment to the criminal slime. We can recruit bullies and
scrappers to our police forces, allowing them to use their gifts to help
society. Then they could arrest without cause, beat repeat offenders, jail
them indefinitely and use other terror tactics to keep us safe.

And the rest of us will be safe -- provided the cops don't think we're
doing anything wrong.

Barg's comments are ridiculous. We provide civil liberties to all citizens
for a multitude of reasons. I would much rather live in a state where
drugs are a problem, rather than have omnipotent bullies on patrol, and I
am sure most police officers would agree.

Scott Allan

Port Moody