FOCUS ON SAFETY

As a police officer, I focused on DUI and red-light running -- proven
killers of innocents. When I found pot on a red-light runner who
wasn't intoxicated, I wrote the traffic ticket and tossed the pot into
a ditch. That allowed me to continue looking for public safety threats.

I urge my colleagues to do the same. Simple possession of pot is a
violation of the law but not a public safety issue. In my 18 years of
service, I responded to zero calls generated by the use of marijuana.

I don't agree with Barry Cooper. (See June 20 news story "Ex-cop
markets DVD on avoiding pot busts.") But I understand his frustration
that our profession has lost its focus on public safety.

HOWARD J. WOOLDRIDGE

Dallas