Chief needs to lead from top

It's not been a good week for Sussex Chief Constable Paul Whitehouse. He came under fire from disgruntled officers at a Police Federation meeting in Brighton.

Now he may choke on his cornflakes when he reads the detailed complaints of one officer in the Argus today.

We all knew there was a thin blue line keeping law and order in some towns. Now this officer reveals it barely exists in several places.

There are just as many officers as there were 15 years ago. The trouble is they are not all where they are needed.

This policeman and his colleagues say the numbers in the front line have halved over that period.

While plenty of cash is being invested in police stations and computers not enough is devoted to having policemen where they belong, out on the streets tackling crime.

It's clear that morale is low among many serving officers in Sussex. Mr Whitehouse and his colleagues at the top need to give a lead.

The policeman in today's Argus writes from the heart. The Chief Constable must explain to this man and many of his colleagues what is being done to meet their concerns. They are also the concerns of many ordinary people who seldom see a policeman on the beat.

Worrying times

Chichester is one of the most prosperous places in Sussex but it's suffering from a worrying loss of industry.

St Ivel stopped making yoghurts in the town last year and now it is closing a factory making chocolate desserts. More than 300 jobs are being lost altogether and 200 are going at another food processing plant in nearby Halnaker.

That prosperity will be threatened if there are many more closures. The city needs a proper industrial base to employ hundreds of local people.

Unless replacements can be found, many employees will be forced to leave or else will end up on the dole.

The naked truth

People in Shoreham are complaining they'll be able to see sailors changing into wet suits in a car park under new clubhouse plans.

One man opposite the club in Harbour Way said the sight of naked men would be enough to put him off his Sunday lunch.

But not everyone will see it that way. If the sailors are hunky, there's plenty of women prepared to go without lunch altogether to watch them.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.