DOING the job of a police officer cannot be easy. They must come across many difficult situations. But then so do nurses, paramedics and firemen.

Not long ago, an ex-paratrooper died in custody, while five officers looked on; a police sergeant officiated as a linesman in a league football match while on sick leave; a policeman was reportedly caught punching a young man in the face; and there has been an epidemic of "post traumatic stress syndrome" for which officers get large pay-outs simply for doing their jobs!

Is there nothing that our boys in blue are ashamed of? The whole system is a joke.

ARTHUR CONLEY