Letter: Police Wasting Time, Resources

Although I am not an attorney, I feel that Rick Parrish’s arrest for soliciting a prostitute is entrapment and a poor use of police resources in fighting crime in general and sex crime, in particular. What we seem to have here is prostitution created by the police department looking to catch someone willing to pay for sex. How do we know that Mr. Parrish would have seriously been looking for a prostitute if the police department had not offered? It seems to me that this is a lazy way for the police department to act like they are doing something about sex crime.

I have seen reports that in other cities, the serious sex crimes involve johns trapping young girls and making them sex slaves. Is it possible that this happens in Fort Smith? If so, our police resources don’t appear to be well managed, in this regard. This is not the first time an arrest like this has happened. A few months ago, a similar case was reported in the paper.

I’m not a friend of Mr. Parrish and was glad to see him leave the Fort Smith board of directors, but I just feel that the police department should get its priorities in order and fight real, not manufactured, crime.

Patrick Lynch

Fort Smith