Dixon of Dock Green showed the best of policing – Yorkshire Post letters

WITH regard to your item “End in sight for Dixon of Dock Green policing” (The Yorkshire Post, April 19) and the accompanying comment headlined “Basics of policing”, I do feel sadly that both the PCCs and the College of Policing seem to have lost the plot somewhat here. Yes, of course, modern lifestyles have, in their turn, cultivated more elaborate crimes such as digital fraud and social media abuse, and admittedly these regrettable developments require a more sophisticated approach to tackle this malaise.

The Yorkshire Post says: Police officers are only as good as their community links

But surely this is the responsibility of CID or other specialised units within the police force as a whole and not just uniformed officers?

I firmly believe that anti-social behaviour, street violence, knife crime, and blatant drug trafficking would not have assumed the prominence they now have if the good old fashioned “bobby on the beat” had been retained.

In my humble opinion, the demise of “Dixon” heralded the rise of all these social evils to the extent they are today. This may seem over simplistic to many, and of course I realised there are many other factors involved, but I do believe that this was a key issue which should never have been so summarily dismissed.

Community Support Officers, the so called “Plastic Police” established to provide a cost-cutting alternative, are not the answer. They do their best, I am sure, but the truth of the matter is they do not command the same respect, do not have the same powers, and therefore cannot establish the same rapport within the community. Having a police officer with an university degree is not the answer either.

Pressures on our teachers

From: Mrs AW Preston, Seaton Ross, York.

WHAT is wrong with teachers and teaching today? My son had to retire from the profession about 25 years ago, suffering from two nervous breakdowns and now my granddaughter has been advised by her doctor to retire to avoid a nervous breakdown. The answer – red tape, computers and paperwork.

I taught in Yorkshire for 40 years very happily. My granddaughter was working all through the Christmas holiday doing reports on the computer in very flowery language which I could not understand, so I am sure parents would not be able to make head or tail of.

Every night for the past two terms she has been computing (at which she is very proficient), writing reams and reams of paperwork answering questions etc until midnight. Is there any wonder she is not well? She has been a very conscientious art teacher in a very good grammar school, teaching a subject she loves, to children she loves, in a place which she loves among staff whom she loves. The very big and only drawback is the red tape, computer work and paperwork.

It is time something was done for the profession to keep any teachers at all. We all thought the computer age would be helpful. Is it? No, much worse!

I fully agree with teachers quitting the profession before it kills them. It annoys me immensely to think that they have spent at least three years in university after studying in school, attaining the goal in an honourable profession, for it all to be thrown away.

Good luck to all teachers likely to be leaving this no- longer-honourable profession, and hoping they all find job satisfaction elsewhere.

Decline in dress codes

From: Ron Jevons, Muncastergate, York.

CALL me an old fuddy-duddy if you wish, but the current thinking on appropriate dress leaves me both bewildered and disappointed.

My wife and I have just visited a recently opened and high-class restaurant in York to celebrate our wedding anniversary where the dress code was stated to be ‘‘smart casual’’.

I wore what I thought was appropriate – i.e. casual jacket/ blazer, open neck shirt and trousers. Quite honestly, I was seriously overdressed!

It would appear that the vast majority possess no sense of occasion anymore and ultra- casual fits the bill wherever and whenever. I am also a front door steward at the local theatre and I am just amazed what some people consider appropriate wear when attending a show.

Perhaps the day will come when just a tattoo will suffice.

Realities of Olympic cash

From: Coun Tim Mickleburgh (Lab), Boulevard Avenue, Grimsby.

I UNDERSTAND that Lord Coe is arguing for money to be spent on grassroots sports in order to help solve the problems faced by our inner cities. But if he hadn’t succeeded in bringing the Olympics to London in 2012, then they’d have been more funding available for such local initiatives. Instead billions were spent on a two-week sporting festival which people enjoyed at the time, but didn’t leave much of a legacy.

Apart from, of course, for West Ham fans who gained a new stadium on the cheap.

Unwritten histories

From: Sylvia Harrison, Woodthorpe Lane, Sandal, Wakefield.

A SINCERE appreciation of Ian McMillan’s delightful piece (The Yorkshire Post, April 13).

I’m in my early 90s but it brought back so many happy memories of my childhood: thinking of my wonderful granny who, like Ian’s uncle, was unable to read or write.

However it never prevented her from making the most delicious meals and wonderful cakes without any recipe books.