The Sussex Police Federation are quite right to voice fears over the powers of the police support officers (The Argus, April 2).

Everyone knows this is a Government gimmick and they have had a few during their years of power.

Some say it is policing on the cheap but how can it be when these support officers, who resemble members of the police force, actually have little power? They are certainly paid a lot less than the real officers and, indeed, are often classed as the eyes and ears of the police.

Many years ago, we had special constables who, again, were written off as policing on the cheap.

They were paid the minimum possible - in fact, their pay was made up of certain allowances.

Some were close to retirement age while others were young, fit people who wished to be good citizens and help the police. Members of the regular force were very much against them. However, they did have powers of arrest and were quite well-trained.

Community support officers are different. They patrol a designated area or beat but just how much does their work assist the police?

If they spot something of interest and call a police officer, does that call have to be quantified before the police will attend? Do their calls to the police command more attention than calls from members of the public?

We continually hear stories of incidents called in by members of the public which are attended by police hours or even days later.

The police are busier than ever which is why they prioritise calls from the public but it appears the main reason for their busyness is the amount of paperwork which accompanies every call and incident.

A simple incident involving a shoplifter takes around seven hours of an officer's time, in the main due to the paperwork. How ridiculous has police work become?

I am sure the police federation has worked hard to cut the time police officers spend on paperwork but, during the past 30-40 years, Government has heaped more and more paper on the police in order to produce statistics, in which the public have no interest whatsoever.

As a result of this extra paperwork, the Government is bombarded with complaints about not seeing police on the streets and came up with this idea of Community Support Officers.

But we want more real policemen on the beat who can actually remove many of the social problems which besmirch almost every community in this country. I am not knocking community support officers but rather those who dreamed up the idea and didn't think it through.

CSOs should have more powers but they must have the correct training to accompany them - and this training will automatically take them off the streets. The Sussex Police Federation is quite right to be concerned. Can we ever win?

-David Rowland, Telscombe Cliffs