As a local Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator, I read with total cynicism the recent report in The Argus that Chief Constable Ken Jones is to beef up the force and is determined to have the right number of officers to resource his neighbourhood police teams.

In the unlikely event this comes about, will we notice any difference? He was making exactly the same pronouncements about improving local policing and thereby regaining public confidence soon after he took office in late 2001.

I wrote to him on February 8, complaining about the appalling service this area received during 2002, with no less than six different beat officers coming and going in less than 12 months and station personnel unable to identify, let alone locate, the current beat officer when I contacted them with problems on two occasions.

I asked the chief constable to explain where his local policing policy had gone wrong, preferably before February 24, so I could put his answer to a residents' association public meeting on that day. I regret to say I have not had that explanation.

-John Morris, Seaview Road, Woodingdean