OUR police, along with fire officers, NHS staff, and many others dealing with front line services, do the toughest jobs in our society. Going to work never knowing what the world is going to throw at you next.

And our police officers, to the greatest credit of British policing, not armed with guns as we have with the vast majority of forces in the world.

However with the greatest of respect for police services it has to be said policing in our towns and neighbourhoods has changed massively in recent years and not for the better.

We have lost all local contact. No more community policing. It has all gone, along with local police stations.

We have ended with reactive policing. Preventative policing, integrating with local population, all gone.

In its place more and more emergency police response actions. What you would think be dealt with, at least to some extent, by intelligence led police local knowledge ends up high level emergency responses.

In Parkstone two weeks ago multiple police cars, dozens of officers including armed police, and a police helicopter. But then would not the regular presence of community officers in neighbourhoods make all the difference to intervening in issues before they run out of control?

And meanwhile we have three local cases, a supermarket till ripped from a check-out in broad daylight, a local store with windows smashed with bricks and the proprietor threatened, and all-night partying in a multi-occupancy house, within over a week.

As far as we know locally, no police response in any of these cases.

This is not good. Very deeply worrying. Where do we end? With US-style high level screaming sirens, flashing lights, dogs and helicopters? Police in the end scared to get out of cars in neighbourhoods?

We need forthwith reinstitution of full police funding. We need reinstatement of 300 officers we have lost in Dorset.

We need post haste return of local community policing. If not, we end with increasingly vicious spirals of crime, lawlessness, and fear.

JEFF WILLIAMS

Jubilee Road, Parkstone

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