TWO recent events in connection with the local police, while seemingly unconnected, give me pause for thought.

The recent retirement of PC Geoff Chadwick (LET, January 16) was sad for the local community.

Geoff deserves his retirement -- nobody has worked harder to preserve the good name and integrity of the police force.

But in what form will his role be continued? He must be the best known policeman in the district. Almost single-handedly, he kept road safety at the forefront of young people's minds.

But often he had to face pressures within the police structure from those who have regarded his role within the orbit of a modern police service as superfluous. I believe that his role, carried out in uniform, was a positive affirmation of an independent policy body dedicated to community service and not just to a force as an adjunct to the current government policy or as a fiscal tax collector of speeding fines.

Secondly, regarding the opening of the new police headquarters at Greenbank, Whitebirk, Blackburn, what are the benefits of the move to a new site?

Having worked at the Northgate site for some 25 years, I am aware of the Dickensian conditions officers worked in. However, the move, to me, indicates the new HQ will take on a wider role.

The pressures upon police management of the responsibility for the safety and security of prisoners have to be recognised, but the Northgate site also fulfilled an additional role as a police office, 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the centre of town. While I am gratified by the siting of an additional office at Blackburn Railway Station, it appears this will only be manned at particular hours.

Historically, in Lancashire, police headquarters have either been in or adjacent to the town centre, as instance at Preston, Lancaster, Blackpool and Burnley. The location of police headquarters has always had symbolic as well as practical reasons with the commercial (markets), administrative (town hall), centre of security (police) and justice (courts).

By siting the new headquarters at Whitebirk, advantage is obviously being taken of the motorway links. However, does this signal a move away from the former status quo?

How will officers get to their beats, or will response be the order of the day? How will the move affect response times? What about coverage of areas such as Mill Hill, Higher Croft or Turton, now on the opposite side of the town?

If, however, the reason for the building and siting of the new headquarters is a move to regional status, then the building is already inadequate for its needs.

The new Chief Constable will have had to make severe and painful fiscal decisions. My question would be: Does this include the closure of some of the smaller stations in the area in order to pay for the new development? By these, I would include places like Padiham, Great Harwood, Haslingden, Bacup.

In a time of rising crime rates and an increase in violence, in which the ignition effect that drugs and its partner, drink, play a part in this equation, is this wise planning?

D D'ARCY, Haslingden Old Road, Knuzden, Blackburn.