I LIVE in Huntington and the phenomenon of a policeman policing my area is one I have yet to see.

So I was amazed when I read in the Evening Press that Chief Constable David Kenworthy wants people to vote for their community policeman.

Even when our car was broken into we never saw a bobby. We were given an incident number over the phone.

My council tax includes more than £78 for local policing and I have yet to see one penny worth of value for it.

Mrs M Dale,

Highthorn Road,

Huntington, York.

...There appears to be a lack of public co-ordination within North Yorkshire Police.

People are constantly bombarded with data to reflect improved policing, yet fewer police are in the public view and crime is increasing.

When it comes to road safety, there is a distinct lack of proactive input from the police.

The introduction of lower speed limits on major trunk routes which are well known for their accident blackspots goes unsupported.

It is true the North Yorkshire force goes some way to discouraging lower speed limits, but says it is unable to enforce such changes. It does however have to attend accidents at these blackspots, which if the speed limits were reduced would be far fewer.

The introduction of speed cameras is frowned upon by the force, with such justifications as quoting £10,000 for the support structure for one camera.

Following the withdrawal of the community bobby, rural areas have become police wildernesses. When was the last time you saw a policeman in your village?

There is a distinct lack of information - as against so-called performance data, - especially in rural areas. This is not helped by changes in police areas which has seen market towns lose their staffed police station and local police telephone contacts in favour of centralisation.

Such changes are reflected in the lack of local knowledge in the centralised offices. There must be changes in the way rural areas are policed such as adequate funding from central government, removal of the police pensions from individual forces to the Home Office and better communications with rural communities.

David Rhodes

The Shrubberies, Cliffe.

Updated: 10:31 Tuesday, May 28, 2002