Have police lost control of the streets?

ONLY a few politicians think we have sufficient police officers. It’s not worth the public’s time reporting most of the low-grade crime we see daily – the best you’ll get is a crime number. Criminals know exactly how thin the ‘thin blue line’ is and how slim the chances of being caught are. TONY SMITH, Aberdeen.

THE main deterrent against crime is the certainty of arrest, conviction and punishment. The police are not helped by having fewer officers, but I place a heavy responsibility on courts to lock up the guilty. Why waste resources on catching the same criminals again and again? PHIL SOSKIN, Rickmansworth, Herts. THEY never had control. I was a police officer during Manchester’s Moss Side riots in 1981 and the same thing was being said back then. It is ordinary people who keep control. They stop at traffic lights and generally don’t steal, cause a breach of the peace or assault one another. The law is created not with a power to prevent it being broken, but to provide the means for prosecution when lawbreakers defy it. Bobbies on the beat didn’t work that well, while police on mountain bikes is a good option. Increasing their mobility and visibility, along with having just one or two beat bobbies, would boost public morale. PAuL SELLERS, Abingdon, Oxon.

I HAVEN’T seen a police officer on the beat in my area for 11 years. I met one who told me he can’t wait to retire. He says the force is run by politicians’ puppets who come straight out of university, none of whom have come up through the ranks. It’s all about political correctness and health and safety. J. RuSSELL, Wokingham, Berks.

THE police only tick boxes to record a crime, not solve it. Unless it could be considered a hate crime, such as wolf-whistling. MARK COHEN, Manchester.