I WRITE in response to the letter from Eddie Holden of Little Downham in the December 14 edition of your newspaper. It is disappointing to read that Mr Holden believes officers spend too much time behind desks and not enough time on the beat. There are,

I WRITE in response to the letter from Eddie Holden of Little Downham in the December 14 edition of your newspaper. It is disappointing to read that Mr Holden believes officers spend too much time behind desks and not enough time on the beat. There are, of course, administrative duties that officers must complete but I can

assure him that as little time as possible is spent on these with our focus being to tackle issues important to the public and provide a visible presence on the streets. My team realise that the majority of their time is to be spent on the beat and PCSOs are measured on the amount of time they spend patrolling to ensure we have a visible presence in and around Ely at all times.

In fact I have recently changed officers' shift patterns to ensure we have officers on the streets at peak periods and in areas with anti-social behaviour problems. Tackling crime is very much a priority for us and in the past two months the team have made 96 arrests and executed 10 warrants. The team is so committed to reducing crime and bringing offenders to justice that when we recently experienced a rise in burglaries officers volunteered to work through rest days to tackle the problem. For officers to be on the streets 24/7 is unrealistic and there is always going to be a need to balance our routine patrols with work to tackle neighbourhood priorities and solve crimes. Just because an officer isn't visible on the street doesn't mean they are not 'on the beat', whether that be at a community meeting or perhaps conducting plain clothed patrols. I can assure you that a police officer is always close by.

I am sorry that Mr Holden holds this opinion of his Neighbourhood team but I make him the same offer as I do to all your readers. If you want to see what we do, and make your own minds up then please come and join us for a day and we will happily show you how we spend our time.

Sector Inspector For Ely

ANDY BARLETT