I READ with great interest the article in the World regarding the level of policing in Halton or, to be more precise, the lack of it.

I have a vested interest in the relevant observations contained within the article especially the concerns and anxiety of no less than a serving police officer.

I regularly attend all police forums, which take place every three months at Halton stadium or Runcorn Town Hall.

I would implore more members of the public to attend these meetings to voice their real concerns and fears at grass roots level with regards to the level of policing and the diabolical lack of communication between a fearful public and the constabulary, with particular emphasis regarding senior citizens in the borough.

I transmitted these fears directly to Supt Helen King, deploring the fact that the front desks at Widnes and Runcorn are closed at 5pm on Fridays until Monday morning.

In the meantime you are requested to contact the communications HQ at Warrington, which cost oodles of taxpayers money to install. On one occasion the public faced the ludicrous situation of being told to use the public payphone near to Widnes police station.

Why? because the state-of-the-art communications system at Warrington had broken down.

To support the police and the public I wrote to both the Home Secretary and our MP Derek Twigg about my concerns and those of the public.

I duly received a reply from the Home Secretary, which echoed my concerns and how much money had been allocated to Cheshire and that the day-to-day deployment of resources was the sole responsibility of the Chief Constable, figures which seemed impressive on paper but reminded me of the old sayings, 'there are lies, damn lies and statistics', and 'you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't foot all of the people all of the time'.

This nameless police officer has only stated precisely what my opinions were at the last police forum.

I believe the blame lies with chief constables and politicians who hide behind statistics which do not square with the reality of the sad situation, not just this borough, but the crime ridden state of the country as a whole.

When the police do a brilliant piece of detection work, which they often do, they are badly let down by the judiciary. This is because of the nanny state, which exists and seems to have more sympathy for the perpetrator then the victim or police.

If the powers that be don't quickly get their act together, I can see this country sinking into a culture of vigilantism, by people who see this as a way of obtaining justice and fair play.

Ian Horabin (Secretary), Newton Resident and Tenants Forum,, Widnes