Report on Pursuit Missed the Point

It is to be expected that The Times would take the criminals’ side when they flee from the police and crash into and kill innocent motorists.

The recent deaths of two sisters in Anaheim are such a case (“Police Pursuit Ends in Fatal O.C. Crash,” Dec. 25). The Times castigated the police and almost forget to mention the murderers. Why do you see things through rose-colored glasses so far as criminals are concerned? The recent death of a Los Angeles police officer is another such case.

Why does The Times not lobby to make the sentence so harsh that felons will not flee and felons will not dare to shoot police officers? What would be a good penalty for these crimes? How about the death penalty? You say we have that now? No we don’t, because it takes 14, 15, 16, 17 years to finally enact the penalty after all of the appeals and foot dragging and coddling. How about a death penalty that is carried out in two days? You say that would be a violation of their “rights?” Well, when our country is finally reduced to not being able to be governed or citizens take up arms to set up a new justice system, you may finally see the light. But it will be too late then.

JOHN B. MULLINS

Huntington Beach

* In reference to the tragedy of the two girls, I feel the article was misguided and belonged in the Opinion section or on the editorial page.

The article was not really news but opinion slanted toward having fewer pursuits of criminals. The mention of the test for a pursuit as the issue of “balancing the risk of the offense to the risk to the public” is really a red herring.

The statistics in the article about deaths in California are fine as far as they go. What about statistics on a per-capita basis of deaths in countries where punishment is a real deterrent, say Saudi Arabia?

Thefts of cars and thieves who flee the police are the root causes of the problem, not the policy of high-speed chases.

BRUCE SEATON

Cypress