We all deserve a better service from the police

AS A former senior Met CID officer, I am appalled by the inability of today’s officers of all ranks to provide the service the public deserves.

When I was a detective inspector, it was my responsibility to make sure that officers under my command carried out investigations correctly and efficiently.

Those senior to me made regular checks to make sure that was the case. But, today, junior officers carry out investigations with little or no supervision.

When something goes wrong, supervising officers should also face the consequences.

We have constables, sergeants, inspectors, chief inspectors, superintendents, chief superintendents and more above them — what are they all doing?

To save money, there should be a rethink on the responsibilities and duties of all ranks, a reduction of senior officers and the abolition of police and crime commissioners.

JOHN SPEARS, Lydd-on-Sea, Kent. BLAME the police, time and time again, and rake over the coals.

Surely if serious allegations are made, the police are obliged to investigate, but they are damned if they take action and damned if they don’t.

Boris Johnson hopes to recruit 20,000 police officers, but given vociferous, Left-wing, anti-police elements, why would any young man or woman want to apply? BRIAN BRIDGES, Lewes, E. Sussex.

Coppers with bottle

WE HAVE been promised 20,000 additional police officers. Can I implore the recruiting officers and interviewers to avoid graduates. What is needed is basic common sense and bottle.

The service is saturated with graduate officers with no life experience. When I joined, 95 per cent were ex-Forces through war service or National Service. They knew how to cope with discipline, look after each other and be at ease with the public.

I interviewed graduates towards the end of my service and the first question I asked one candidate was: ‘Why do you want to join the police?’ He replied: ‘I believe the pay is very good.’ That was as long as the interview lasted.

LEN SLADE, Preston, Lancs.

Two child limit

I AM not stating how many children anyone should have, but how refreshing that Prince Harry is clear that, as someone passionately concerned about the environment, he wants to have a maximum of two.

If everyone took the environment into account when making such important decisions, we would all be better off.

MARTIN EARL, London N20. IT IS of vital importance that population growth is halted. But there are difficulties in setting a self-imposed limit on family size as a moral imperative.

Women are the critical factor in reproduction, the more so under a welfare state where paternal support isn’t essential.

A limit for women only would be denounced as sexist, but if it were extended to men, mothers would be limited in the choice of potential fathers for their children.

Perhaps it might have been more appropriate for the announcement to have been made by Meghan rather than Harry.

JOHN RISELEY, Harrogate, N. Yorks.

Booze cruises

THE brawl on the P&O Britannia shows the decline in cruising.

Ships have become ever larger, with as many cabins as possible. Many little luxuries have been cut while on-board revenue-generating opportunities have been increased in order to reduce fares to attract young people who would previously have gone to Ibiza, Greece or the Caribbean for beach or party holidays.

It may be regrettable to those of us who travel to explore the culture, history, architecture and scenery of foreign destinations, but thanks to fast-food chains and traffic jams, many cities are no longer so different from home.

In St Martin in the Caribbean when I visited earlier this year, there were seven ships, each with 3,000 to 5,000 passengers. Venice and Dubrovnik are jam-packed with cruise passengers.

Sad to say that many of the younger P&O passengers are the people who earned the English the lager lout reputation abroad.

All a significant minority want to do is lie in seal colonies around the pools all day, eat and drink as much as possible and party hard at night.

In seven weeks on board the Ventura, P&O played disco and party music at high volume in every public area from dawn to dusk. Pleas to turn it off at least in some areas were refused.

If you’re a mature adult, you might want to avoid P&O.

And if you want to explore exotic destinations, then book an upmarket cruise line with smaller ships that can visit ports inaccessible to bigger ships.

It will cost more, but it’s the only way to cruise in style.

DAVID ROLFE, Eastleigh, Hants. I COULDN’T think of anything worse than being marooned on a large lump of iron and steel with hundreds of strangers for days on end. Not to mention the possibility of rough seas. All this for thousands of pounds. MARIANNE GASTON, Bishop’s Cleeve, Glos.

Natural wonders

DURING my idyllic Fifties childhood, there wasn’t much money for holidays abroad, but I was more than content to spend my days in the grass meadows at the bottom of my road, fascinated by the wildflowers and butterflies.

When I became a teacher, I always had a nature table in my reception class with labelled flowers in jam jars and curiosities such as oddly shaped stones or pieces of tree bark.

I felt it was important to engender in young children a sense of awe and wonder at the natural world around them.

Sadly, many children today can’t have my experiences without adult supervision, and understandably so.

When life’s relationships are often only virtual and ambitions become pressures on teenagers, it helps to have learned to take pleasure in the natural world.

It’s freely available to all and makes you realise how precious life is.

STELLA AKAM, St Albans, Herts.