AS a retired Detective Inspector I was asked by the LT whether frontline police should be routinely armed in the light of the murders of two police women in Manchester.

I disapprove strongly of this knee-jerk reaction. Surely the question should be to encourage a debate on the reintroduction of capital punishment. Hanging was abolished by a smug Labour government in 1965 without discussion with the British public.

When I joined the service in the 1960s there were an average of 337 murders annually. This rose in the 2000s to 818 murders a year.

The lack of a death sentence has undoubtedly contributed to this increase and I feel it is about time our country was offered a referendum on the subject.

It would surely deter gang members from arming themselves with lethal weapons and displaying such cruelty and ferocity as we saw in Manchester last week.

Jim Oldcorn, Ridgeway, Great Harwood.