What if the owners of newspapers told their editors to write without regard to the rules of grammar and punctuation? And what if they were told to dumb it down some; they are writing at too high of a level for their readership? Do you think the editors would feel like all of their education and professionalism is in question? Do you think the readership would suffer some impact as well? “weL oF coaRse ’ thEy wood,”

This is akin to what Pittsburgh councilman Ricky Burgess is proposing (“Proposal would prevent Pittsburgh police from pulling over drivers for minor, secondary violations,” Nov. 8, TribLIVE). Introducing legislaton to dumb down the response of Pittsburgh police to ignore secondary traffic offenses hinders their education and professionalism. They were hired to do a job and were educated and trained to their job to the best of their ability.

This proposal is assinine. If driving without taillights or a broken windshield are no longer considered a secondary offense, the right way to correct the problem would be to legislate the offenses off of the books. Missing a muffler, turn signals not working or not using a seat belt no longer offensive? Get the offenses off the books.

Don’t tell the police not to do their job. What kind of counterintuitive thought process is Burgess using?

Robert Smith

Monroeville

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