Funds for Police

* The failure of voters to approve the funding initiative for more police was probably due not only to the high two-thirds majority required for passage, but to people’s reluctance to add to the already overstrained property taxes. Still it was a shock to see that we had failed to give ourselves what we badly need, and by such a narrow margin.

The best tool for collecting money that I have seen in Los Angeles is the phone bill. It reaches so many more people than property taxes, so regularly and in such an organized way that it spreads the burden out almost painlessly. Why not earmark a few pennies from everyone’s phone bill and hire the police we need when the fund gets substantial enough? Maybe an initiative along this line would get the needed support.

JOHN DAVID

North Hollywood