IT remains to be seen how successful Jack Straw's instructions to the police to target certain crimes will be.

But the police need back-up, and Mr Straw should also have instructed the Crown Prosecution Service to fast-track trials of the accused, and the judiciary to impose maximum sentences on the convicted instead of doing their usual wrist-slapping.

KEITH ELLEL, Westwood Avenue, Rishton.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.