POLICE PRIORITIES QUESTIONABLE

To the editor:

Re: "Cops set up special team to stop West Side petty crime," Nov. 21.

Even though 21 pedestrians have been killed in motor vehicle accidents
so far this year (10 more than last year's total), the Vancouver
Police Department has moved 24 officers away from traffic duty and on
to drug enforcement. At the same time, the police are responding to a
rash of auto break-ins on the West Side with a special team of
investigators, increased presence, and undercover operations.

I'm sure that setting Vancouver's policing priorities is not an easy
job. I'm trying, but I just don't understand why drug busts are more
important than traffic safety, and I can't even imagine by what logic
car windshields are more worthy of police protection than human lives.

Doug Hopwood,

Vancouver