Force a bit more haste

Don't expect a quick reply if you're making a complaint against the police in Sussex.

Home Office statistics show the force took an average of 114 days

to complete cases of complaints,

making it one of the slowest in the country.

How can any organisation take that long?

Even if some of the cases are complicated, many are not.

Taking between three and four months to investigate them is far too long and only adds to the injustice already felt, rightly or wrongly, by complainants.

At least the police acknowledge they're unacceptably slow and are trying to do something about it.

They've spent a lot of time and

trouble trying to improve their image, but this sort of needless bureaucracy makes people think of them as plods.

Action needed

The deaths of four people along Brighton and Hove seafront have shocked the community.

It seems barely a week goes by without some new traffic accident occurring and yet another person becoming a victim.

Now residents are calling for something to be done to cut

the number of accidents along the road.

Improvements being mooted include more crossings, speed cameras and flashing 30mph speed limit signs.

Let's hope some action is taken soon before another life is lost.

Lucky card

While most of us play Monopoly for fun, Mike Grabsky from Hove is much more competitive.

The English champion hopes to beat four other champs, including his wife Jane, to become the best player in the UK.

Let's hope he keeps his Get Out Of Jail Free card, otherwise he might not make it to the world contest later this year.

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