I attended the police consultative meeting in Malmesbury and endured a most depressing afternoon.

After one resident complained of the noise, under-age drinking and vandalism, a senior officer said police action was only a "sticking plaster" and tackling the problem would only move it elsewhere.

He said the residents needed to find a community answer to the problem as crime was the community's problem.

Presumably, residents are expected to club together for safari trips for louts while police glow with satisfaction at being social workers not crime busters.

The officers at the meeting appeared uncomfortable. Hardly surprising given that they presumably joined the force to catch criminals, not act as social workers.

The officers found themselves defending initiatives such as superfluous signs on Malmesbury's police station, the force's mobile units and the £15,000 expenditure on name badges for police who decline to use them as the use of names can threaten officers or their families.

All this when the force's helicopter has been equipped for night use but is grounded at night because of lack of cash.

The emphasis on presentation over substance is exemplified by the establishment of the forces' unit to ensure language used by police is politically correct and the despatch of letters to all staff offering homosexual counselling services. As these were sent to home addresses instead of in internal mail £1,000 which could have been used against crime was wasted.

With the force's eye now off its task of catching criminals it is little wonder a reorganisation of the high speed cars with sirens and flashing lights has backfired.

These response units now centre on Wootton Bassett and it is unlikely that villagers making a 999 calls in Sherston and Luckington will see one within the 20-minute guideline set by the Home Office.

My request for a breakdown of the time it takes for a response unit to reach these villages was met with the average: 78 per cent of 999 calls get a response in the limit. Presumably the remaining 22 per cent are all in places like Sherston and Luckington.

Being charitable one can only assume the re-organisation of these units was implemented in response to a Government which, through its legislation and taxation, demonstrates its contempt for those who live in the country rather than in urban conurbations.

With a General Election imminent, it is time James Gray made law and order an issue. The people of Malmesbury don't want to be told the youths racing vehicles along the high street, the hooligans at Market Cross and the vandals in the churchyard are their problem.

We pay our taxes for police that will fight crime. Mr Gray should use free the police to do that. He might even throw his weight behind a policy of zero tolerance.

My guess is that such a move would put a smile on the faces of Wiltshire's police officers. After all, didn't they join the force to be intolerant of law breaking?

PETER SIMMONDS, Brokenborough