WITH reference to Tony Kelly’s letter about the police (HAS, March 29). There are some police officers who are “neither use nor ornament”, as he says.

But there are similar people in every walk of life, whether employed by the Government, or not.

Whenever I have called the police to report a serious incident they have arrived rapidly to deal with it, and have done so with courtesy and professionalism. We should expect no less.

Obviously, the reverse can be true. Resources are very stretched sometimes, particularly at weekends, when the police seem to spend most of their time dealing with drunken idiots who behave like over-sized toddlers.

Arresting and processing people like that takes officers off the streets for hours at a time, and stops them dealing with other crimes.

As for the police being a “damned nuisance” – well, if I were being attacked in the street, had my house burgled or my car broken into, I would be only too grateful for the long-suffering “damned nuisance” to turn-up and help me.

Gavin Hay, Darlington.