HER officers having stopped more than 32,000 drivers during the force's month-long Christmas and New Year blitz against drink-driving for a pathetic five arrests is hailed as a success by Lancashire's Chief Constable, Pauline Clare.

Well, she would, wouldn't she?

For how else would one justify such a huge waste of police time and resources other than by claiming that next to no result is a big result - making out that it shows that motorists have really got the don't-drink-and-drive message?

But, interestingly, Mrs Clare suggests there is strong public support for this kind of operation.

Oh, really? I do not know who she or the university researchers she has engaged to find out have asked, but, surely, the ones whose opinion ought to be sought are the droves of law-abiding motorists who were pulled up by officers at the rate of more than 1,000 a day for no good reason.

What do they think about this futile, officious overkill? And I wonder whether the burglary victims among them are happy that officers have so much time to spare for negative policing in Lancashire - which, I note, was more than ten times as prevalent as in Somerset and Avon where the police are happy with the "success" of just one arrest out of nearly 3,000 drivers stopped over the Christmas season..

Of course, drivers are unlikely to protest to the police about being harassed or inconvenienced by such huge interference with the freedom of the innocent - not when, like the acquaintance of mine who has been breathalysed four times in the past six months for no credible reason and was under the limit every time, they fear that making a fuss will earn them even greater attention from our wonderful police.

Such is the low level of trust for our bobbies as a result of the hounding of motorists.

Doesn't Mrs Clare realise the harm it has done?

I am sure she would if motorists - and non-drivers who think the police have far better things to do - felt able to speak in confidence to her university survey-takers so she would get the truth.

Perhaps, Mrs Clare will facilitate this - especially if she is so confident that the force is going about this business in a worthwhile way.

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