THE Government is going ahead with a scheme for Police Commissioners. How can it justify the expense?

Wouldn’t it make more sense to look at merging small county forces together?

There must be big savings to be made if Yorkshire just had one police headquarters and one Chief Constable instead of three or four.

In Scotland, the members of the Holyrood Parliament are proposing to merge seven forces into just one for the whole of Scotland. Merging police forces together must bring big savings in the long-term. There will be more money left over to spend on front line services.

On a separate point entirely, I don’t believe claims that crime is falling.

Reported crime might be falling.

But if their are fewer front line police officers to take complaints naturally the figures are going to fall.

Members of the public are going to be deterred from reporting crime if they are made to wait hours before a statement is taken.

As more police stations are closed down people have to travel further to make complaints.

Nigel Boddy,