Snooping in the Garbage

Today is trash day in my neighborhood and I am moved to write in response to the column by Edwin M. Yoder (“Do We Really ‘Expect’ Snoops in Our Garbage?” Op-Ed Page, May 19). He is way off base on this one.

It seems as though there is a never-ending parade of people willing to preserve the legal rights of any criminal at any cost while throwing roadblocks in the way of police investigations. Why can’t Yoder and others of similar feeling simply accept the fact that whatever is in the public domain is fair game?

Such inflammatory language as “Police stealing . . . garbage” is really unnecessary. They were not stealing anything, simply pursuing a suspect in a way not specifically allowed (nor disallowed) in the Constitution, but also never imagined by the Founding Fathers.

The crux of the matter is this: If you don’t want to be caught doing anything illegal, don’t do it. If you don’t want something found, destroy it.

CRAIG DURING

Whittier