Public let police down, not other way round

MOST national newspapers recently reported the police had let the public down in addressing crime and detection rates in specific offences.

But we need to look back to the reason, when we had to address the state of the country’s finances as we had maxed our country’s credit card with the IMF.

As a result, we had to make cuts, so chief constables had to revert to forcing officers with 30 years of experience to retire. Peter James, of The Guardian, reported this might cut costs but would not reduce crime and at the same time would demoralise officers and lose a vast amount of knowledge and experience.

Previous governments, county and borough councils of all political parties, along with the people, have failed the police. How many readers would prefer to see a police officer on the street, rather than neighbourhood wardens or community protection officers? The Prime Minister has promised a number of new police officers, but they will take years to be trained and gain the amount experience that was lost.

We all grumble about the volume of responsibilities we are given for our pay, but think what a police officer must go through, such as being spat at, threatened, assaulted and abused, with more emphasis placed on the offender than the officer.

Let’s stop councillors and MPs using the police as a political tool and get our courts to give stiffer sentences. Who would want to work for the police when a majority show no respect for them?

Tony Morris, by email