Whilst home in Wiltshire at Easter I read that the mayor of Melksham had been on the streets with a police patrol to see the problems which arose on a Friday night. It must have been the only patrol out.

In five days spent in Melksham I saw neither a patrol car nor a foot patrol anywhere.

Here where I live in a quiet cul-de-sac on the edge of a normal German town, I have the reassuring sight of a patrol car slowly driving along our residential road several times a day.

If I go into the town centre shopping, I can guarantee to see foot patrols and police on mountain bikes in the pedestrian precinct.

These same bike-mounted officers are frequently to be seen talking to children outside schools or even accompanying them on the cycle-tracks. Maybe the mayor should visit Melksham's twinned towns and see what policing can be like.

David Chown,

Germany.