EVER wondered why youngsters seem to be more light-fingered these days?

Joe Jones of Irwin Road, Sutton, reckons it's because young offenders no longer get a clip round the earhole from the local bobby.

Once seen as the greatest deterrent against juvenile crime, this on-the-spot form of justice could, in these so-called enlightened times, result in the copper in question being drummed out of the force.

Joe provides a little example of how times have changed (and hardly for the better) in ankling us back to the days of the old St Helens open market, close to the Savoy Cinema.

"A piece of the ground there was used by Norbury'', the fruit and veg merchants, for storing turnips and cabbages," he recalls.

These would be piled up on sheets laid on the ground and with a top sheet covering them.

"Gangs of kids could be found playing on that land in the evening," says Joe, "but I never heard of any of the vegetables going missing nor of any complaints from Norbury's.

"Police on foot were in abundance in those times, and they could suddenly appear as if from nowhere."

NOW, in these resources-strapped times, you just might catch sight of one drifting by in a police car!

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