Police should use their common sense

We constantly read about thefts of memorial plaques and other types of scrap by odious creatures and yet it is hardly surprising, is it?

The police have been decimated by this Government and one rarely sees an officer on patrol. Likewise, the motorist has every right to feel aggrieved over the matter of speeding fines.

A few miles an hour over the speed limit at dead of night on an empty road will bring serious penalties and yet we are frequently overtaken while obeying the speed limit, often by some driver doing 80 or 90mph on a road where 60mph is the limit because there is no camera, or police cars on patrol.

The question must be asked, where is the sense of the laws and which is safer 35 in a 30 area at dead of night or 90 during the day?

As a police officer on motorcycle patrol, I used common sense before reporting a motorist and took into account all the attendant conditions such as road usage, time of day and manner of driving. Cameras are mechanical and patrols non-existent.

From: G Lomas, Bingley.

I HAD a stroke 11 years ago, for the 28 years before then I drove hundreds of miles a week.

Now I am driven by other people, some of them professional drivers. My drivers often complain that no-one seems to use their indicators these days.

Is this because drivers are too mean to wear out the lightbulbs or is it that they know where they are going, so why does anyone else need to know?

The constant emergency braking at roundabouts and junction causes me a great deal of pain. Could I please invite your readers who, of course, indicate, to consider other people on the road?

I realise that this is a very old-fashioned idea, but why pay money for indicators on your car and not use them?

Sense of right and wrong

From: Karl Sheridan, Selby Road, Holme on Spalding Moor.

THE recent disclosure that the majority of tagged criminals break their curfew, along with the fact that the majority of criminals re-offend, prove in my opinion that the criminal justice system is failing dismally.

The announcement by the Metropolitan Police that crime is now on an upward trend also comes as no surprise when police numbers are falling thanks to government cutbacks.

Then we have the revelation that judges need to be re-trained to make them more aware of the real world and be more streetwise.

Is it any wonder that some the youth of today grow up feeling nothing but contempt for the police and the CPS?

The CPS and judges need to see past the flannel that defence lawyers put up and need to start doing what they should – dispense adequate and painful justice to the criminal instead of the current half-hearted pampered method where the victims of crime feel thoroughly led down by the injustice of seeing an offender walk free from court.

When religious instruction was taught at schools, it instilled, if nothing else, a moral structure into a young child’s mind – that there was a right and wrong, and the hint that maybe – just maybe – a greater power might wreak vengeance on a wrongdoer.

Our leaders pass the buck

From: D Birch, Smithy Lane, Cookridge, Leeds.

WHERE does the blame lie today with this coalition Government? They continue to pass the blame to anything or everything because of the fact they made their decision to “clear this country’s debt” first and forget the now extended problem of the country’s stagnation.

Now George Osborne and David Cameron. Yes, Osborne first, as he appears to be the real leader. He is leading the way. Now its the eurozone, last year it was the snow.

This year to date, we are having too many holidays apparently, that they put in place in the first instance.

Plus of course, we have all “enjoyed” the Jubilee and the rain which they haven’t blamed anyone for yet – and, of course, the Olympics are still to come.

If David Cameron is still the leader and thinks he can make his mark in history, which is now very doubtful due to the Old School tie, he has to get some “real people” from this Parliament into the Government and do a real u-turn to get people into work and paying their taxes and spending money they earn, which in turn will make more jobs and fill the Treasury.

From: Terry Duncan, Greame Road, Bridlington.

IT is time that the puppy Cameron is called to heel, and be told to stop jumping up and yapping, barking off like the young immature political pup that he is.

The Tories should send him back to the kennels so that he can be whipped-in to be an obedient leader of the Conservative pack.