Your front-page article "Thin blue line of four police" (The Argus, December 5) is alarming, especially as the incident of car vandalism occurred on a Saturday night when we in Uckfield understood extra officers were on duty to combat antisocial behaviour at weekends.

I am a neighbourhood watch co-ordinator and have lived in the town for 40 years, witnessing over the last four or five years a gradual deterioration of local policing.

Gone are the days when we knew our regular beat officers. Now the law is broken every day in the High Street - pavement cycling is rife and motorists ignore double yellow lines and park on pavements.

I recently reported vandalism on two business properties and a smashed window on our shed. I was given a crime number and informed an officer would contact me within 48 hours.

A week later, I have not received any communication.

To replace our shed window cost £44. The cost of policing forms part of this unfair council tax.

We deserve better policing and we have no community support officers.

How can four officers possibly expect to cope with antisocial behaviour in the three towns mentioned on Friday and Saturday nights?

-Derek Bartholomew, Uckfield