HAVING read the article “Police Officers ‘Catch More Crooks’”

(Echo, Sept 24) I have to say that the research findings are exactly what the average man in the street would expect.

Of course, fully-fledged police officers and detectives catch more crooks than civilian staff.

It’s their job, after all.

Obviously there is a “direct link between police numbers and crimes solved”. None of this is rocket science.

But then a local bobby has to attend local area action plan meetings, community police groups and the like, all of which would be unnecessary if he were on the beat meeting and talking to the public and providing a visible presence to deter crime.

What we need is a complete rethink in policing and who controls a local force. Give us a locally elected police chief; who is answerable to the local population and its needs, not to the targets of an out-of-touch government.

Dave Brothers, UKIP County Durham.