Does it matter how police officers dress?

IN DEFENCE of ‘scruffy’ police at Old Trafford (Letters), I took my two grandchildren to enrol at Manchester University. Matty wanted to go to the football ground and we arrived to see the supporters, some drunk, throwing bottles, cans and food into the street’s gardens, swearing and shouting. This went on for some time and the police endured it. I went up to a few on horseback and asked: ‘How can you stand it?’ to which they replied: ‘It’s always like this.’ LESLEY FRANCIS,

Wembley, Middx. OFFiceRS have to dress according to the environment in which all of us now live. Their mode of dress is essential for their safety — a factor which doesn’t lend itself to being smartly dressed. With all the equipment they have to carry around, it’s a wonder they can walk upright. The amount of violence today’s frontline police officer encounters is much greater than it was 30 or 40 years ago when i was a serving officer. For their safety, it’s essential they dress as they do, and that doesn’t mean well-pressed tunics and highly shone footwear. i enjoyed my time in the police, but i doubt i would today. When being critical, imagine yourselves in the situation of a police officer.

ALBERT EDWARD SHORT, Blackpool.

THE shabby image of law officers is about to get worse with Cheshire Police about to replace traditional flat hats with baseball caps. Chief Constable Simon Byrne will recall from his time in the Merseyside force that the ‘standard attire’ of the street gangs which brought gun crime to some areas was the dark baseball cap and black designer anorak — the new image of the Cheshire Police. Mr Byrne is an ex-colleague of the Metropolitan Police boss Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the first chief to take the traditional uniform off our streets. Is it any wonder public confidence in the police is draining away?

Name and address supplied.