Perspective: An opportunity for the highway patrol

We view this article as an opportunity and a challenge for Florida Highway Patrol supervisors, as well as rank-and-file members, to positively change the way we do business.

First, we are refocusing on our primary mission of highway safety. This means reducing the use of sworn personnel for non-law-enforcement duties and eliminating many vacant supervisory positions in favor of more troopers on the road. We graduated 59 new troopers on Aug. 17, we will begin a new class of 60 next month and will have another in early 2002. Gov. Jeb Bush and the Legislature also appropriated $2.6-million this year in overtime funding. More troopers mean better traffic enforcement efforts, better crash investigations and better assistance to the public.

Second, we are embracing technology. Our laptop computer project, state law enforcement's new 800 megahertz radio system, and HITS -- our computer-based Homicide Investigation Tracking System -- will help every trooper be more responsive and responsible. I, myself have begun soliciting patrol feedback via e-mail.

We are disappointed that the article focused mainly on the patrol's failures, which were caused by a few troopers who are clearly not representative of our agency. Although you did acknowledge the good work of several of our past "Trooper of the Year" recipients, let us emphasize that the overwhelming majority of our troopers throughout this state are hardworking and dedicated men and women whose primary interest is providing protection and courteous service to the public we serve.
-- Col. Christopher A. Knight, director, Florida Highway Patrol, Tallahassee

Front-page news?

Re: Guarding Harris has cost $50,000, Aug. 22.

Would one of you journalistic geniuses at the Times please explain to me why the cost of Secretary of State Katherine Harris' security detail is front-page news? Why don't you dispatch Lucy Morgan to pick through Harris' trash? Maybe then you can run a front-page story about how she discards recycleable plastic, which is surely a comment on Republican environmental policies.
-- Ray Zacek, Tampa

An incredible waste

I simply can not believe that $50,000 of taxpayers money was used to provide security services to Katherine Harris. What an incredible waste of money.

Just think how many classroom supplies could have been purchased. No wonder the teachers union put up the billboard.
-- Sandra Forrest, St. Petersburg

A double-header

Robyn Blumner played a double-header on Aug. 12 and won both times. In her articles on China and childbirth, she shows an independent intelligence on both subjects and an ability to reason cogently about the consequences, especially on China (see Country of Contradictions and Preganant woman's rights get short shrift).

Today there is so much reborn anti-Red China rhetoric being thrown around by former warriors of the former Cold War that it is apparent that some people, mainly older conservatives, are unhappy without a foreign villain to hate.

China is in the throes of transforming itself economically, as Blumner clearly points out. The outcome is still uncertain, but if it is successful, this should impact on the political structure as well.

As China, historically, has never experienced anything but centralized rule (now Communist), it is difficult to predict what form a new government would take. Probably something resembling Singapore's despotic democracy if it's lucky and does not dissolve into chaos first. In any case, Blumner has provided a very coherent picture of where it stands today and the difficulties it faces.

Her conclusions on a woman's rights in childbirth are equally coherent, although this will
-- probably produce a stronger reaction than her views on China.
W.H. Riddell, Tampa

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