Collapse of standards in today’s police force

I FULLY endorse the comments of Mr R Lindley (The Yorkshire Post, October 18) on policing. There is not a police force as such today. The training we had to do would not be tolerated today by the so called “do gooder” squad.

If we wanted promotion, we had to sit exams in English, geography and maths and general knowledge to even get to the rank of sergeant, plus a very detailed law examination. The law questions would be like this: “You are on duty when you receive information that a girl of 12 years, three months has just given birth to a child. The father is a boy of 13 years. The grandfather, i.e. the girl’s father, is only 27 years of age. Outline your full powers of arrest under the statutes covering the sex offences and your powers under any other act. Identify all offences outlined including aiding and abetting (if any) offences.”

From: Peter Hyde, Driffield.

YOUR correspondent GP Taylor (The Yorkshire Post, October 29) makes a very good point when he bemoans the standards of dress and actions of the current police service.

Police officers have little or no pride in their appearance.

They also show no discretion when dealing with the public, meeting targets being their main object.