Great, so we have gangs of youths who are known to police and who run riot and we have to gate streets off rather than increase policing in those areas.
But that's OK because Inspector Parr is adjusting our police distribution according to the full moon (The Argus, June 5).
Maybe we should issue police officers with garlic and a crucifix too.
What century are we living in?
The Argus quotes a study from a Dr Peter Perkins who believes there is an increase in calls to accident and emergency services during a full moon and that, "the human body is influenced by gravitational forces from the moon".
It seems embarrassing a doctor could publish such a study. As anyone who understands anything about the moon should know, the different phases of the moon are solely due to what angle the moon is at relative to us and how the light from the sun is reflecting off it. The moon doesn't have more gravity when it is a full moon - it isn't somehow bigger.
It is the same moon every night, having the same gravitational effect.
If you want to make a link between light levels and behaviour then fine, but to make a link wth gravitational effects is ridiculous.
Inspector Parr asks that universities investigate his perceived link. They have. In 1985 Rotton and Kelly conducted a meta-analysis of 37 studies. In 1992 Byrnes and Kelly reviewed 12 studies conducted over 20 years. Also in 1992, a critical review was carried out of 20 studies done over 28 years. Another study was published in 1994 over a four-year period by Gorvin and Roberts.
In 1997 Amaddeo and colleagues studied the number of all psychiatric contacts in the province of Verona over a tenyear period and their correlation to the synodic cycle.
Another study at five inpatient settings in Sydney, Australia, was conducted in 1998.
They all concluded no link or an "illusory correlation".
Still I'm sure none of this will affect Inspector Parr's decision.
The links we perceive ourselves are always the hardest to analyse critically.
Silver bullets on standby?
Ashley Simmons
Goldstone Street, Hove
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