December 11 Letters: Leadership at top needed to guide policing

I WAS disappointed to read that a review has found almost all police services in England and Wales to be inadequately prepared to tackle crimes related to honour-based violence, forced marriage and female genital mutilation.

Sadly, according to this review, all our Yorkshire forces were among those not satisfying requirements.

From my contacts with the police, I know they do not fall into the trap of considering these problems to be restricted to particular sections of the broader community, and therefore not a general concern.

On the contrary, they appreciate that wrong is wrong and crime is crime. It must be tackled without fear or favour and there must certainly be no blind eye turned because of misplaced sensitivity.

Decent members of society condemn these crimes regardless of colour, race or religion.

I am confident that forces in Yorkshire want to do their best in these difficult areas, but I must urge that they take swift action in order to better respond to a changing society.

It has been 12 years since Shafilea Ahmed was killed and nearly 10 since Boimaz Mahmood met her fate. FGM has been a criminal offence in Britain for several years.

I believe our Chief Constables and our Police and Crime Commissioners must now stand ready to make tackling these insidious offences part of the mainstream of their crime-fighting strategies.

From: Vice Admiral Bob Cooling CB, York.

AS a former officer in the Royal Navy who spent 34 years in the service of my country, loyal to the Crown regardless of the colour of Her Majesty’s Government, I see three compelling reasons why Mike Pannett is the right choice for police and crime commissioner in North Yorkshire (The Yorkshire Post, November 8).

First, he is an Independent candidate and therefore unencumbered by a political agenda and able to serve the whole community without the distraction of party politics. Politics should not be mixed with public service and Mike really understands that.

Second, he combines an unmatched wealth of experience of the Police Service and community issues (both rural and urban) having served as a police officer for 20 years and subsequently been deeply immersed in community affairs in North Yorkshire.

Third, he is a man who is utterly committed to delivering the support and resources our beleaguered police service so desperately needs, while also ensuring that our community receives the best possible support from a police service that is adequately funded, skilfully led, and highly motivated.

With this rare and admirable combination of attributes Mike Pannett is in my view the most compelling candidate at this critical time for the role of PCC in North Yorkshire.

PM’s Churchill
moment

From: Bob Adamson, Fallowfield, Skipton, North Yorkshire.

ONE gets the impression that David Cameron would like to be considered a second Churchill and I have at last found at least one trait that they appear to have in common.

The Prime Minister recently accused his opponents of being the friends of terrorists.

This seems to me to be quite in line with the fatuous comments of Churchill in June 1945, when he warned that a win for Labour in the forthcoming election would bring in “some form of Gestapo, no doubt very humanely directed in the first instance”.

The record does not show 
if, in his case, the great war leader was repeatedly given the chance to apologise and refused to do so.

Tube shouter
spoke volumes

From: Hilary Andrews, Nursery Lane, Leeds.

THE man who shouted “you ain’t no Muslim, bruv” at the man who attacked a traveller at Leytonstone underground station at the weekend (The Yorkshire Post, December 7), did more to illustrate how ordinary Muslims feel about people of their faith who commit these terrible attacks than all the pronouncements by the faith leaders who don’t seem to be able to express the disgust their followers feel. Well done, whoever you are.

Sold short

From: Susan M Abbott, Melbourne Road, Wakefield.

THE sales used to start in January, then it was on Boxing Day and now during the season of Advent – before Christmas! Advent to Christians is preparing for Christmas, for the coming of Christ as a baby, the greatest gift of all. He was also a refugee after his birth, fleeing persecution with Mary and Joseph to live in exile for a few years until it was safe to go back home which will resonate with many today.

Better ways

From: Harry Moore, Ilkley.

THE Unite convenor at Hull Council (The Yorkshire Post, December 8) states that “the only way you can save money is to stop doing something or close something”.

Clearly he’s never heard of eliminating wasted time, materials or effort, nor does 
he think of doing things in a better way.