Dear Editor:

There are those who believe that crime is reduced by being tough on criminals, but are instead pursuing a policy that is stupid on crime. Take for example Trump’s use of the military to sink boats suspected of smuggling. For the sake of argument, let's assume that the victims of this policy were actually smuggling  contraband.

We might want to know more about the boat, like who owned it and  where it came from, but we will never know because it is at the bottom of the ocean. We might want to interrogate the suspects to see who they worked for and information about their operation, but we will never know because they are all dead. We might want to know about the contraband itself, what chemical signatures might tell us about the manufacturing process and its origin, but we will never know because it has  been destroyed. From a crime fighting perspective, that’s kind of stupid.

Just as stupid is the Trump administration order to rescind restrictions on civilian firearms exports to 36 countries deemed high-risk for weapon diversion to criminals and terrorists.

The stupidity continues with Trump sending in National Guard troops to fight crime within our country. These troops are not trained in law enforcement. What is dangerous about this is it is antagonistic to the local populations inviting a Kent State type of response. Instead of fighting crime, the troops find themselves dealing with protesters. If Trump was sincere about helping cities fight crime, he might help them find funding to hire more police, material and training.

And going from stupid on crime to outright cuddly with crime is Trump’s pardon of convicted criminal Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road dark web marketplace, who had been serving two life sentences plus 40 years for orchestrating an online drug trafficking operation that facilitated over $200 million in illicit transactions and conspiracy to murder.

If we want to be tough on crime, we need to start being smart about law enforcement and stop being stupid.

Fred W. Nehring

Boothbay