I understand what you all feel about being let down by the police, but please trust me that it is not us who are letting you down. We have government targets and quotas to hit and if they are not met, then the Chief Constables will be dragged over the coals and the Home Office will reduce the funding that the force gets next year (one way or another).
The Chief Constables will then drag those below them over the coals and so on and so on, until it reaches the lowly bobby on the beat.

We are all micro managed and are compared against each other (division v division, shift v shift or officer against officer). Whilst they are not stupid enough to give us targets of numbers to arrest, give tickets to, etc... They will publish charts to try and make officers who use discreton, look lazy. Words of advice don't show up anywhere, an 'offender' arrested and cautioned or given a ticket does.

The above coupled with the amount of paperwork that we have to complete, makes us ineffective

Steve, Swansea,

What the hell are the police even for? It'll be EU troops on our streets before long - just the ticket for a NULiar politician facing defeat.

Dan, London,

There seems to be a concensus that the police are failing in their duties and that the public should be able to take matters into their own hands.
Where do I enlist?

Ally, Glasgow, Scotland

The police in Nottinghamshire have arrested and locked in a cell a 73-year-old man who dared to remonstrate with a group of youths throwing stones at some ducks -on the lying word of one of the louts who apparently claimed to have been
'assaulted'. The response of a Chief Inspector was that the Constable did what he thought was right !

This sort of thing is not a unique case, or even a rare exception, but a pattern by our increasingly incompetent, politically-correct mad police who have largely lost the respect and trust of the law-abiding public.

Peter Fahey shows just how out of touch senior police officers are : we already have " yobs ruling the streets", and what is even worse, if the yobs don't get you, the police will !

L Green, LOndon, England

How ridiculous.

Both the police and the government seem to switch between positions on citizens involving themselves in the prevention of 'anti-social behaviour' at will.

If the honest citizen does start to stand up for himself, he is accused of taking the law into his own hands. That is also complete rot, since the law belongs to the citizens of this country, not to the police. We simply pay the police to help citizens in the upholding of the law, although this seems to have been long forgotten.

If the police do want our help dealing with potentially violent and murderous youths, they should extend to us the same levels of protection that they have given themselves. It is no good for them to tell us that we should confront these youths all the while retaining a complete monopoly on the use of force in defence of themselves.

The very fact that we have become a disarmed nation in exchange for a police service that is now incapable of doing it's job is outrageous.

TC, London, UK

In America, police forces have 'TO SERVE AND PROTECT' wrote on the side of their patrol cars.
I am sure these words will never find their way onto British patrol cars. There's already evidence of police arresting and charging soft targets in order to make-up their quarter of so called arrests, while the real nasty offenders rampage across our cities. What a bunch of jokers the police have become.

A Police Officer with several years of experience could be earning around £30,000 per year, poor things, its a wonder they even bother getting out of bed in the morning.

People even give the police evidence of CREDIT CARD FRAUD with names, addresses etc but you get "IT'S NOT OUR BRIEF"

CAR VANDLISM IS NOT A PRIORITY and the police just say "contact your Insurance company".
I reported a group of teenagers smashing up residential fencing (CRIMINAL DAMAGE) again NOT A PRIORITY, police never attended. London's Met Police Farce (31,000+) are jokers and prisons are full!

Graham Wharton, St. Albans, UK

What a total abdication of responsibility.
This makes me really angry; if the police got off their lazy backside and did the job they are paid for Mr. Newlove would still be alive.
"Public should challenge the hoodlums" - he did and he was murdered by a gang of criminals who should have been under lock and key. Had he lived he would very likely have been prosecuted by Chief Constable Fahy for 'taking the law into his own hands'.
Our lazy, cowardly police have abandoned the streets to criminals, our justice system is run for the benefit of lawyers and we are left alone without any protection.

Guy T, Edinburgh, UK

What utter tosh! The Police cannot be serious about asking the public to their job for them, can they? What I want to know is, what's the difference between intervening and taking the law into your own hands? A very fine line these days I feel!

Graham , Littlehampton, West Sussex

That's great. Challenge the hoodlums, get in a fight, get arrested, get locked up. Cheers Chief Constable Fahy. Can I use you as a defence witness when I get prosecuted for assault while the baddies get compensation, a holiday, go-kart driving lessons and a theatre workshop?

We might do something if the law was on our side, but it seems to give all the rights to the criminals and systematically strip all the rights away from us, the good guys.

shorehamview, Sheffield,

Well, thank you, Mr Fahy, but we have seen what happens when law-abiding people like Mr Newlove challenge people damaging their property. Do you have any idea why we have a police force?

Martin, Newmarket, Suffolk