Ruben Reyes said that bad police officers should be fired or reassigned to desk jobs when they get into trouble (“Remove bad apples from police forces,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, July 14).

What he hasn’t noticed is that whenever officers are investigated for wrongdoing, they usually are reassigned and even have their police powers suspended. Research into past reports of police officer wrongdoing show that these procedures are mentioned.

Reyes goes on to to say that the police department should actively recruit people who would not be inclined toward illegal behavior. The present recruitment and screening process of the Honolulu Police Department has this in place to weed out any potential unfit candidates. Do you really think that HPD’s hiring guidelines include seeking out people with questionable backgrounds, psychological problems and displayed patterns of behavior problems?

Reyes should have attended the HPD recruitment event that was held on July 9 right there in his hometown of Waipahu.

That way, he could see what is involved in becoming a police officer and ask all the questions he wanted about the hiring process.

Kevin Kobayashi

Mililani

Enemy isn’t guns, it’s radical Islam

Omar Mateen pledged allegiance to ISIS and gunned down 49 people June 12 at a gay nightclub in Orlando, the deadliest mass shooting in the United States and the nation’s worst terror attack since 9/11.

Recently, a boy named Muhammad fatally stabbed to death a 13-year-old Jewish girl in Israel as she slept.

Fifty people died and 60 were wounded by suicide bombers at the Istanbul airport.

Guns are not the common denominator. Radical Islam is the culprit, and until such time as our president can say who the enemy is, these attacks will continue. They will continue with knives, suicide bombs, flying airplanes into buildings and other evil ways.

This is not a war on the National Rifle Association or guns.

This is a war on radical Islam.

James “Kimo” Rosen

Kapaa

We must be alert for hometown terrorists

There are a lot of unstable people all around the world. I feel sorry for the people of France, with at least 80 dead from a crazed truck driver.

It’s only going to get worse with all these copycats all around the world. Don’t think that we here in Hawaii don’t have our share of these fanatics, because we do. So when seconds count and help is minutes away, don’t be caught off guard.

Ira Uehana

Kapaau, Hawaii island

Don’t give rail transit another blank check

People are so sick and tired of hearing about rail that it’s often said, “Just finish it” or, “float a billion-dollar bond.”

If, for a graduation gift, you said that it’s okay for your 22-year-old son to pick out a reasonably priced, safe, used automobile, and he returns with a new $250,000 Lamborghini that you will pay for, you’d probably be upset and have something to say about it.

In 2007, the City Council asked that if the cost keeps going up, at what point will it be too much? The question was never answered.

At this point, the rail needs to be completed. The plans may have to be changed, modified, altered or shortened, but it needs to be done in a fiscally responsible manner, which doesn’t include a blank check.

Ted Kanemori

Kaneohe

Keep e-cigarettes from our keiki

Hawaii was the first state to raise the tobacco age to 21. Now, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz has introduced a bill in Congress to raise the age nationally. Actions like these will save young people from a deadly addiction to tobacco.

But the industry won’t give up. Tobacco companies are targeting young people like me with new products such as e-cigarettes and cigars that have brightly-colored packaging and sweet flavors. As a result, teen use of e-cigarettes has skyrocketed in recent years.

Schatz and U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono should continue their efforts to fight tobacco and help Hawaii’s kids.

We need them to oppose any efforts to weaken new regulations the Food and Drug Administration issued recently to protect kids from e-cigarettes and cigars.

Let’s keep FDA oversight of e-cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products strong — and keep all our keiki safe.

Chase Kessler

Kahala

Government wins, everyone else loses

Numerous articles in the Star-Advertiser about government’s inability to accomplish anything aren’t surprising. “Analysis paralysis” (Star-Advertiser, Insight, June 12), columnist Richard Borreca’s observations about rail transit and your editorials on rail solutions provide examples of a stuporous government.

Politicians throw millions at the homeless without requiring them to contribute the slightest bit of personal responsibility for their situation, while allowing politicians seeking re-election to feign concern for the downtrodden. The more that is given to the homeless, the more they will demand, and the more homeless there will be.

Million-dollar studies are conducted to distract voter attention from viable solutions, to shield overreaching government from blame. Why are there no studies conducted to determine if ruinously generous wages and cost of living allowances should continue for public employees?

It is the government class versus everybody else. And everybody else is losing.

Arthur Warren

Keaau, Hawaii island