Better Way Needed to Gauge Police Effectiveness

* Your editorial “Thin Blue Line Being Stretched Ever Thinner” (May 8) compared the number of police officers per square mile in various cities. This may be one method of comparing the effectiveness or the need for police, but it is perhaps one of the weakest. Population density in those square miles would be the big factor. Since Los Angeles is so spread out geographically, it is probably not a very good comparison when it stands alone.

I would suggest that a more comprehensive set of statistics could shed more light on the level of our police needs. We seem to get these statistics piecemeal.

Comparison by city is important, but why not give us the whole picture: the number of police officers, perhaps broken down by categories like patrol, administrative, management, detectives and so on.

WILLIAM M. LISEC

Burbank