In the article “Wiretap law update resisted’’ (Page A1, Jan. 2), Martha Coakley, former state attorney general, asserts that Beacon Hill lawmakers’ “unwillingness’’ to expand wiretapping authority is “a little inexplicable.’’ It’s not incomprehensible, however; it is simply a matter of legislators doing the job they were elected to do: pass and uphold laws in the best interest of the people, from every strata of society.

District attorneys argue that expanding the law is necessary to prosecute dangerous criminals. That’s contradicted by the chief legal counsel of the Massachusetts Bar Association: “There are enough tools already available to federal prosecutors, and we worry about the erosion of people’s privacy rights and due process rights if we expand the wiretap law here in Massachusetts.’’

Further, the governor’s wiretap bill was not the modest expansion of the statute its backers claimed; beyond giving DAs the power to wiretap only in murder cases, it would have enabled them to use wiretaps even in the lowest-level drug investigations.

I am grateful for the integrity and foresight of our legislators to pass on such an unwise expansion of the war on drugs, which continues to disproportionately target and incarcerate people of color.

Jennifer Querbes

Acton