SO the Home Secretary thinks the general public ought to fight crime.

He should be reminded that the politicians created this situation, not the public, who mostly objected to the introduction of the permissive society, the removal of the police from the streets, the abolition of all discipline for children and the introduction of the velvet glove, applied by the people who make easy money from 'Social Services.'

I myself, sick of seeing old ladies with horrific injuries, inflicted by the moronic product of the sparing of the rod, have written to Mr Straw, urging a re-think on a return to both capital and corporal punishment for the worst cases - crimes against children and the weak and helpless, and the planting of bombs which kill and maim indiscriminately.

Mr Straw will have none of it. He outlines a system of warnings for these persistent offenders (all in the future, of course) and just about anything except punishment for those who deserve it. A more cynical person may assume that too many legitimate people make big money from crime; the installers of burglar alarms, the drug manufacturers, the brewers et al.

Assuming the general public took to the streets in an anti-crime crusade, what could we expect? To be described as vigilante groups, with all the stigma engendered by lynch-parties in 19th-century America?

A member of the public who 'has a go' at these criminals will receive lavish praise from the police and judiciary if he is lucky and manages to apprehend a law-breaker, but he is more likely to receive a severe or fatal kicking by members of the gangs that flourish today.

In certain situations, the public-spirited citizens are called either heroes or cowards, depending on whether they have a go or not, but it is a no-win situation.

Success, as I said, brings kudos, but failure brings the oft-voiced police warning not to have a go.

We are keeping enough dogs; let's hear them bark. Or better still let's see them bite.

F BURNS, Livesey Branch Road, Blackburn.

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