Shayne York

* L.A.Sheriff’s Deputy Shayne York, a good and brave man, was murdered simply because he was a cop (Aug. 17). This crime slices to the core of our values as a people. It is too easy to focus on the small minority of police who abuse the very people they are sworn to serve, and to forget the vast majority of very brave men and women who protect us from criminal predators and anarchy.

Most of the time we know who the cops are. They wear uniforms. We, on the other hand, are unknown. Who is armed, who is not. Who hates cops, who does not. Who of us, under the influence of drugs, will kill, who will not.

Let’s stand firmly behind the good police, our real everyday heroes like Deputy York, and resolve to get rid of the bad ones, before they ruin it for all of us.

BURTON S. KATZ

L.A. Superior Court Judge, Ret.

Malibu

* After reading about the disturbing news of the death of York, and with the continuing threat of gang violence in Southern California, it is time for serious and quick action. I challenge county supervisors and the city councils of the various municipalities to petition our courts to place a gang injunction on the entire county of Los Angeles.

Freedom of association is not infringed when we are dealing with terrorists and criminals that seek to take constitutional freedoms from law-abiding citizens. We need to authorize our law enforcement officials with the tools necessary for our safety. Do our civic leaders have the moral and political will to do something for the good of all?

JOHN PEREZ

Commerce

* Two are arrested in the shooting of York in the course of a robbery; a teenager is found guilty of the shooting deaths of two; and Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren seeks to overturn the West Hollywood gun ban on Saturday night specials (Aug. 16).

That our law-and-order attorney general will join forces with the California Rifle and Pistol Assn. and the NRA to ensure that those prolific instruments of death and tragedy remain unbanned and available for all is a blatant policy of public-be-damned, self-serving political expediency.

ILENE BRISKIN

Beverly Hills