IT was good to read in the Bury Times that Bury police were going to "get tough on louts" this Christmas. But why just at Christmas? Why not all year round?

It was not that long ago that Tony Blair was blaming the increase in crime on the liberal 1960s. He now says that society needs "rules, order and proper behaviour" as though this eye-opener has only just dawned on him.

However, Mr Blair has had seven years in which to have made an impact on rising crime and if the best he can offer is to say that society needs rules and proper behaviour, then that it as good an admission as any that the past seven years have been wasted.

For, however hard the Government might insist that crime is under control, in most people's perception - not least in the Bury area if this letters page is anything to go by - the very opposite is the case. In fact, with violent crime figures increasing over the past year in Greater Manchester, much of it caused by binge drinking and drugs, we have arrived at the reality matching the perception.

Also, while the Government might say the number of police has increased, again the perception of many people is that entire areas of our town centres and cities have been handed over to the lawless. International databases, facial recognition systems, CCTV, satellite tagging and passive wave imagers are all very well, but all that most people want to see is more bobbies on the beat.

If it must be insisted that police numbers are up, is it not the reality that too much of their time is spent sitting behind desks, filling in forms?

In reality, an increased police presence on the streets is a must for tackling vandalism, binge drinking and anti-social behaviour that can so often cause misery and blight entire districts. I will look out for the local December/January crime figures; it will be interesting to see if Bury police's newly-found "get tough" approach is the success that I, for one, hope it's going to be.

JEAN ALLISON (Mrs),

Ramsbottom.