THANK you for the comments in your Opinion column (LET, December 11).

I am the mother of Detective Constable Joseph Scanlan, who was asked to resign after the inquiry into the strippergram affair at Lancashire Police headquarters, and having kept quiet for the past 10 months, I feel I have to write now.

The views in your column were the first to appear in his defence. We all feel he has been treated very badly and it was a relief to see someone else has fair opinions.

True, he was silly to go with the crowd, but he didn't know what had been arranged for him and, by the time the girl appeared, had had quite a lot to drink and went with the flow, as did a lot of other officers, some a lot more senior who hadn't been drinking all night and joined in whatever went on.

Why weren't they dealt with in the same way?

Joseph was the unfortunate one on the video and so took all the blame.

He is 32 and has never given a minute's trouble in all that time.

All he has ever wanted was to get into the police and when he did, he proved he was a good officer earning himself a commendation for bravery. What a pity criminals aren't dealt with so harshly. Our car was broken into on November 5 and was so badly damaged it had to be scrapped.

A big knife was left in the car and when we rang the police they said they don't come out to car break-ins and asked us to put the knife in a box and bring it to the station.

So it's OK for criminals to break in, but not for officers to let off steam when off duty.

The two other officers have got off so lightly, it's unbelievable. They were fined and walked back to their jobs.

Is this justice? I don't think so.

But as long as Chief Constable Pauline Clare is seen to be politically correct, everything is OK.

The past 10 months have been so stressful on Joseph, his wife and all the family.

We all know he has been made the scapegoat for everyone.

You may think I am biased. Well, I am - we are very proud of Joseph and we always will be. He is one of the best.

TERESA SCANLAN, Waterbarn Street, Burnley.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.