POLICE officers have a difficult job and at times face serious danger, and few reasonable people would deny that they deserve decent accommodation while they are doing it.

Many, however, will rightly question whether the expense of booking police officers into smart hotels for up to 12 weeks can be justified.

The Gloucestershire Force refuses to divulge the cost of hiring dozens of hotel rooms with the best of en suite facilities for police officers from all over Britain who were called in to control peace protests and guard security at RAF Fairford during the Iraq war.

The constabulary is also not saying how many of these back-up officers were called in.

This secrecy serves little purpose, and now that the emergency is over it could well antagonise countless people who, quite reasonably, will be asking why it was necessary to use three and four star hotels instead of cheaper guest houses.

We believe that tax payers, who at the end of the day are paying the bill, deserve to be told.