More not less information will make us all feel safer

Police should issue warnings after sex attacks

I’m a big supporter Cambridgeshire police. I believe all of us should be, because crime, including the prevention and detection of it, is our problem not just theirs.

But sometimes I wish they would give the public more credit.

T he lack of a warning to people over the recent sex attacks in the city – including a particularly terrifying one at knifepoint –is an example.

At Telegraph Towers we sensed (we weren’t told) the police were particularly concerned about this attack. Extra patrols were put on in the area and officers were out where the attack took place a week on to gather evidence.

Via social media we learned that officers had visited nearby businesses and told them, quite rightly, to warn female staff.

Bafflingly, when the PT contacted the police they said officers had visited to speak to potential witnesses and view CCTV. Adding security advice would have been given like it would following any attack.

There was no warning, indeed the police appeared to be at pains to avoid giving one. As a father, husband, son and brother I don’t think that is good enough.

The simple if unpalatable fact is that there is a sex attacker on the loose and one who may already have struck again.

The police top brass seem to have an obsession about not scaring people, hence the endless trotting out of cliches such as ‘isolated incident’ when worrying crimes are committed.

They ought to give us more credit. I don’t believe we would see mass hysteria if police handed out a sensible warning.

Being warned to avoid a certain area or not to walk alone for a short period doesn’t equate to not going about your daily business as normal.

I’m sure women in the city would have gone to work, picked up children from school and done whatever it is they normally do.

What’s so bad about being a bit scared anyway? It stops us doing stupid things all the time.

I’d rather my daughter, wife, mother and sister were warned to help keep them safe, even if it made them a little nervous, than become the victim of a vicious sex attacker.

Ironically, a few days later the force was trumpeting the launch of its new website which aims to ‘transform the way the force communicates with the people of Cambridgeshire’’.

In the press release there were lots of buzzwords.

I could warn the police that good communications need more than a sprinkling of phrases such as ‘userfriendly’ and ‘web-chat’, but I won’t.