A GREAT fanfare accompanied Home secretary David Blunkett's announcement that police officers nationwide will, by the end of the year, be able to hand out on-the-spot fines to the antisocial people whose behaviour is a blight on civilised society.

The idea is to reduce the amount of paperwork done by officers, thereby freeing them to spend more time among the communities they serve.

Even at first glance, Mr Blunkett's announcement raises certain questions, including, for example: Do we have an assurance that if officers are freed of certain paperwork, they will not simply be assigned other forms of administrative duty by bosses?

We know that officers will be carrying mini-computers to check names and addresses given by offenders, but what happens if an offender gives a complete set of personal details belonging to somebody else?

What happens the first time a human rights lawyer challenges this legislation? Only time will tell.

Which is all well and good, but whenever a politician of any political hue invokes the Dixon of Dock Green image of "more bobbies on the beat, like in the old days", his or her listeners are wise to exercise caution.