Letter of the week: Concerns raised over police funding in Lincolnshire, Rutland and Leicestershire

A concerned resident has written a letter about the lack of police funding for the area.

I read with interest the articles you have recently published on police funding within Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Rutland, and I believe I speak for a lot of people when I say I think everybody is concerned with the lack of funding, especially in our rural communities, where all crimes are on the increase, despite what the Government says to the contrary.

And, although I agree with the Leicestershire and Rutland chief constable’s comments on the impact of less funding, this is only a small part of the equation. I live in a small, rural village where we have been subjected to drug dealing, harassment of a vulnerable person and lead theft from our church. The most recent occurrence was on February 12. Police were contacted on three separate occasions, one being as the lead theft was occurring, and did not immediately attend. Over the weekend, the villagers managed to recover the stolen lead from the culprit before police attended.

A cartoon by John Elson, sponsored by the Assist Group

Rural communities seem to be forgotten when it comes to setting priorities, so although I can sympathise with the funding issue, it does not account for the complete lack of support for rural communities, and a lack of PCSOs is only going to make this worse.

Finally on policing, I must also draw attention to the calibre of people recruited as police officers. A friend of mine recently had the misfortune to have dealings with the police and has had to make a formal complaint because the officers concerned failed to follow procedure, leaving this individual, and the community in which he lives, disillusioned with the police in general.

So, although funding is a concern, it is only a small part of the issues facing police forces at present.

I also feel I should also make comment on the state of South Kesteven District Council. A number of funding issues have appeared in articles, such as the leader travelling to America and other funding anomalies, such as ‘toilets and park sold for £1’, ‘council digs deeper to pay for housing’ on the old Cummins site after already spending millions of tax payers’ money demolishing the old site. This begs the question as to what type of people the district council employs because they seem hell-bent on wasting our money instead of spending it where it is needed.

This leads me on to the article in which a petting farm has been denied planning permission to house someone on site to help prevent break-ins and security breaches. The reason for the refusal? ‘There was no clear essential need’. This is a farm park that provides essential services for disabled and disadvantaged children and has suffered numerous break-ins and vandalism but the council does not feel it is essential.

South Kesteven District Council, you should be ashamed. I only hope that at the coming elections councillors are replaced by people who want to serve their community, rather than looking after their own interests.

Name and address supplied