I must be getting soft in my old age. Rarely do I agree with the utterings of Bruce Hogan but this week I found I agreed 100 per cent with his comments on the Gloucester police force and its management.
The excess of chiefs over Indians is obvious as we never see constables on the beat in Lydney or anywhere in the Forest – there may be a few sightings in Gloucester or Cheltenham.
Dr. Brain spends a large amount of money on the support officers but on the rare occasions when they are seen in Lydney they don't do anything or impress anybody. They are usually in pairs and engaged in deep conversation with each other and completely impervious to what is going on round them. I thought they were supposed to deal with minor crime which is too trivial to warrant a proper policeman.
One constant complaint is the way in which selfish healthy motorists take up spaces reserved for disabled drivers. There were at least three such spaces in the Newerne Street park this morning taken up by cars not showing the blue badge – there may have been more but I did not walk round to see. This often happens and surely these 'Blunkett's Bobbies' could usefully move them on or issue a fixed penalty fine. That way they might even recover some of what they cost us.
Vehicles delivering to shops in Newerne Street are another nuisance when many of these premises can be accessed from the rear. The drivers find the narrow access roads too much bother so they block the main road to the annoyance of every other driver – and no little danger to pedestrians as a result. Here too the PCSOs could be useful and make them move.
If we must pay the earth for our share of the county police force then at least let has have some value for our money and not see it all spent on the cities and the chiefs. – B.C. Baker, Lydney.