According to your sidebar [“Pickton by the numbers”¦” Jan. 25–Feb. 1], the estimated cost of the missing-women investigation is more than $100 million. Maybe the provincial government would have been wise to have spent this money on social programs.

Most of the women Robert Pickton is charged with killing were addicts and had other problems that put them in the position of having to sell themselves on Vancouver’s dark and dangerous Downtown Eastside. One hundred million dollars would go a long way in providing social housing, addiction programs, and other aid to the most vulnerable members of our society. This might not stop the predators, but it would make it more difficult for them to prey on our most disadvantaged.

There is a reason serial killers prey on our vulnerable and not on rich socialites. They are easy prey, and the authorities are reluctant to investigate if they go missing.

It is shameful that in a country as rich as Canada, we have so many people living in poverty.

> Murray Martin / Burnaby