TIMES have changed. We all need to accept that whether we like it or not.

And that includes the way our streets are policed.

We have to accept that the resources of Sussex Police have been slashed by the Government in recent years.

There are less (are there any?) bobbies on the beat and fewer officers to investigate our crimes.

That’s why we shouldn’t have been shocked this week by the Channel 4 Dispatches programme.

The programme said that police are failing to properly investigate more than a quarter of reported crimes.

A Freedom of Information request by Channel 4’s Dispatches revealed the force did not look into 29 per cent of crimes reported last year.

Should we really be surprised at that? Sadly, the answer is no.

Let’s all realise once and for all that Sussex Police isn’t the force it used to be.

It can’t be given the huge budget cuts it is having to deal with.

Former Sussex police officers were on the BBC this week bemoaning the state of the force in Sussex.

They policed our streets in the good old days when they had huge resources. You can’t compare policing then to how it is today.

Sussex Assistant Chief Constable Nick May said the force has to prioritise crimes based on threat, harm and risk.

He said: “We are prioritising what we do, ensuring we are responding in the right way to address incidents which have the greatest threat, harm and risk attached.”

Whether we like it or not, that’s the way it is.