I WRITE, as a retired police officer having served the county for 30 years, in support of the recent comments made by district councillor Mark Rees, who has knowledge of policing from his many years service as a police officer.

Officers on the beat did have a deterrent effect as well as a responsibility within the community they served.

I saw a decline in the police service to the public when local stations began to close.

Areas within the Stroud area have lost their local police stations, Minchinhampton, Nailsworth, Stonehouse, Bisley, Chalford, Bussage, Painswick, Berkeley, Wootton-under-Edge, to name but a few, have all gone.

No longer is there the level of community engagement and local knowledge that existed.

PCSOs, introduced by previous Home Secretary David Blunkett, are civilian appointed police staff whose role was primarily, uniform foot patrols with a purpose of public reassurance.

The PCSO role was a reactionary solution to complaints about lack of police on the streets, the role was not clearly defined when introduced and with only civilian powers the deployment was so limited when compared to that of a police officer.

There are many good PCSOs who have tried to develop the difficult role as best they can, however the purpose and effectiveness has to be questioned.

When police commissioners were introduced it was supposed to a more cost effective control of policing as opposed to the ‘police authority’, made up of representatives from across the county from various backgrounds.

The Gloucestershire commissioner has 16 staff working within his ‘office’.

The commissioner himself is an ex-officer and there have been several appointments made within his control of other retired police officers.

The objection to the role of commissioners was demonstrated by the pitiful turnout at the last commissioner elections.

Is this really a healthy scenario for such an important public service?

This Government has made a serious mistake with the introduction of commissioners, allowing the control of forces to potentially become political.

The role should be scrapped and control should return back to a broad based locally appointed police authority.

You could argue that in Gloucestershire the force being run by an ex-officer, is preferable to the alternative of being led by a political figure.

Policing should be absolutely non-political.

Questions could also be asked as to whether or not serving police officers should be allowed to run a business whilst still in the force.

I wonder if business matters are dealt with within police time?

There are so many front line officers that do a brilliant job for the residents of Gloucestershire who deserve better than supporting the top heavy regime that exists.

I hope that councillor Rees has support for his views from other council representatives within the county when they have the opportunity to discuss the decline in policing within the county with the commissioner.

M Peer

Minchinhampton