Ordinary citizens are not being well served by the police

JAYNE Dowle says we don’t notice the police until we need them, and she goes for days without wondering what the police are up to (Yorkshire Post, February 10).

Of course we don’t see the police, because they are absent from our streets where they are most needed. And quite how we define their role in society is unclear.

In fact, what the police actually do with their time remains a complete mystery.

What they definitely do not do is provide the kind of service that the public need from them – for example, regular patrols by bobbies on a recognised “beat”, enabling them to act as a deterrent and actually prevent crime, seems a thing of the past. Why is that? How can they hope to maintain law and order if they are invisible?

As Jayne points out, we live in fear of being prosecuted for traffic violations.

As we know, today’s policing policy is all about revenue collection, not serving and protecting the public as we were led to believe. Motorists are an easy target, and require much less effort.

Strange that resources always seem available to raid drug dens, or chase elusive organised gangs of car thieves, but actually providing a physical presence on our streets, on a day-to-day basis, seems way down on the list of policing priorities.

As Jayne discovered when things were taken from her garden, the authorities are almost impossible to contact, and she was alarmed by the lack of interest shown by the very people whom we have entrusted with our safety.

What seems clear is that senior police officers are not aware of the problems that the public face in their communities.

Surely, if they were, they would organise a routine police presence in all areas, especially where people were being pestered by groups of youngsters, and then these “creatures” would be dispersed immediately, so that decent people can be allowed to live in peace.

Anything less is unacceptable in a so-called civilised society, and if the police cannot meet these vital requirements to public safety, and are not willing to do their duty, then isn’t it time failing chief constables stepped down?

Currently, many are of little use to us, and obviously have no intention of fulfilling their obligations to the majority of decent law-abiding citizens.