The offer of £2,000 from the Holgate ward funds to purchase cycles for the Holgate community support officers has been turned down by North Yorkshire Police on health and safety grounds (Why our cycling coppers won’t come a cropper, The Press, January 7).

The offer was made so that the officers could respond more quickly from their base in Westfield to Holgate.

This just highlights the mistake that was made in the first place by basing them at a location as far away as possible from the centre of the community they serve.

It would have been a lot better if accommodation could have been found in the old police station in Acomb Road, from where they could have reached most points of their area in a shorter space of time.

They would have also been more accessible to the community if needed; or possibly North Yorkshire Police did not want this.

AP Cox, Heath Close, Holgate, York.


* I would like to ask David Quarrie why he feels that the police need to retain some element of “distance” from the “rest of us” (Police need to keep their distance, Soapbox, January 5) Currently, police officers and PCSOs are working to ensure that there is in fact not a distance between them and York residents, especially with young people and children.

At my daughter’s school, the children all know the police officers and PCSOs by name, and they know the names of many of the children because of the work that is done in and around the school.

My daughter’s school is not alone; at the school where I am a governor the situation is the same, and I for one welcome the community work being undertaken.

If Mr Quarrie is worried about respect, perhaps I would suggest it can be gained through various means.

Being faceless, nameless and distant does not mean that the police will receive more respect from the residents they serve.

Coun Tracey Simpson-Laing, Acomb ward, Salisbury Road, York.


* ON January 8, I was driving along New Lane in Huntington when I observed two of our support policemen cycling on the pavement! Once again, words have failed me.

Mike Usherwood, Mendip Close, Huntington, York.