SYMPATHY AND SKEPTICISM GREET GUILTY POLICE OFFICERS

A number of young police officers have given a physical beating to a number
of drug dealers, a practice which our grandparents or great-grandparents
would have approved.

Understandably, the drug dealers' lawyer appears frequently on TV to
express his indignation about the beatings. But that is what he is paid to
do. Public relations is part of good representation of those who live by
crime; to evoke public sympathy, whatever aid that might be to people who
live in a world of violence.

It is hard to sympathize with the dealers who now appear whining on TV. No
one is forcing them to engage in the trade and there are multiple agencies
to assist them to get into something more useful, like journalism.

James Craig, Vancouver