How Mexican crime was treated

Re “It got him killed,” Sept. 7

It’s sad to see the waste of space for The Times’ graphic reporting Sunday. Why would the editors choose to devote half a page to illustrating one paragraph from the accompanying story in comic-book form? Were readers truly incapable of understanding the reporter’s written description of a Mexican police officer being dragged out of bed and shot?

Perhaps this is part of the dumbing down of The Times, or maybe the first part of a secret plan to convert The Times into a graphic novel.

The mysteries left unreported are a) what I could have learned had that space been used for a separate article and b) why anyone is surprised that subscriptions keep declining.

Scott Landsbaum

Beverly Hills

After reading this poignant story and realizing that the murder of Juan Jose Soriano was no more than a response to him simply doing his job in the Tecate police force, I couldn’t help but conclude that we are not winning the battle to stem the flow of drugs to this country, and I don’t see the situation improving in the future.

One answer that would cut off the legs of the smugglers and all those who profit on both sides of the border from this illegal trade: Legalize marijuana.

Jim Sheldon

Laguna Beach