Pubdate: 20 Mar 1999
Source: San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 1999 San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune
Contact:  P.O. Box 112, San Luis Obispo, CA 93406-0112
Website: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/
Section: Opinion
Author: Dave Hill, Atascadero
Note: Drug War relevance in last paragraph

COPS SHOULD OPEN UP ON MISSING STUDENT

To the editor:

"I'm not going to jeopardize these cases down the road by giving away the
shop." So says police spokesman Capt. Bart Topham who would not comment
Wednesday on the nature of the evidence and would not confirm reports that
blood was found inside Crawford's home.

This is the exact same tactic used in the Newhouse disappearance, and what
progress has been made in her case? Is all this secrecy to prevent some
slick defense lawyer from letting the creep who is doing this go free?

You have to catch the creep first! Why not let the community in on what's
going on?

There are a lot more of us than there are police officers. All it takes is
for one person to see something or know some important fact, and the police
will have their creep. My impression of their silence is that they don't
want us to know (the creep is a VIP?) or they haven't found out anything yet.

Meanwhile, the community lives in fear. I, for one, feel it's time the
police officials tell us why everything is so secret, or publish a list of
clues in each of the three cases in the paper at least once a week.

Speaking of police activity, what kind of top-secret intelligence results
in a drug bust netting one suspect out of three and less than one ounce of
suspected meth out of the three to five pounds produced daily?

Dave Hill

Atascadero 
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