I disagree with Everett City Council member Liz Vogeli’s commentary on traffic safety (“Traffic bill will put emphasis on safety hazards,” The Herald, Feb. 18).
Her commentary is not about driving hazards but destroying public safety by preventing police from finding criminals or even questioning them.
We are fortunate that less than 10 percent of our population are criminals and they aren’t the brightest bunch. They advertise their incompetence with petty violations of easily handled laws like public indecency, vagrancy, licensing, insurance and car maintenance.
This gives police chances to catch and incarcerate criminals before they escalate their behavior to violence and destruction; which harm all of us, victims and their families alike. This is how Rudy Giuliani cleaned up New York City in less than two years: that’s how long it took to incarcerate all the potential criminals for minor crimes rather than monstrous crimes.
Vogeli’s constituents may be illiterate, unlicensed, uninsured and incompetent but it’s far safer for the rest of us to take them off the street for small violations than for horrible crimes. Public safety in Everett is clearly deteriorating, which you can see if you walk the streets as I do every day. Her approach is simply dangerous to all of us.
John Sweeney
Everett
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