POLICE & MORALITY STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

In "Neighbourhood Pot Labs Busted" (Oakville Beaver Nov. 16, 2001), you
mention the Halton Police's "Drug and Morality Unit."

Why are the Halton Police enforcing morality? And whose morality are they
enforcing? Is there an official national Canadian morality? Where can I
obtain a copy of this document? Are the police enforcing Protestant
morality or Catholic morality? They differ on several significant issues;
some things condemned in one are permitted in the other.

When I have questions about moral behavior, I consult a trained and
ordained member of the clergy. The notion that police officers, with their
somewhat different training, have taken it upon themselves to scrutinize
and enforce the community's morals is, quite frankly, very chilling. The
notion that the government takes its preferred system of morality and
translates it into criminal law smacks of 14th-Century Europe and the
Inquisition, and is downright terrifying.

ROBERT MERKIN