Police staff shortages

Press, 12 November 1985, Page 16

Police staff shortages

Sir,—Maybe some day I will see the chickens come home to roost. I have already floated the idea of auxiliary policing, and the interviewer of the Commissioner on television’s “Sunday” came a little close to raising the issue, but stopped short of asking the Commissioner the vexed question. In today’s paper the Commissioner, when asked about possible formation of vigilante groups to fill the shortfalls in police numbers, said: “There is nothing wrong with groups such as senior citizens equipped with citizen band radios being formed as long as they are not directly involved in detaining suspects.” Surely, it is a sorry state of affairs when there is even talk of vigilante groups, let alone formation. A police auxiliary is the safeguard against the need for vigilantes or paid private patrols. Still, the media and the Government are apparently ambivalent towards studying the subject, let alone crusading for its introduction. So long as we ignore the success of such concepts overseas, we deserve the level of crime that we now suffer.—Yours, etc., R. A. COOK. November 11, 1985.