I am not ashamed to admit it. If I was a policeman facing a baying mob of out-of-control, brick-throwing yobs, I would be terrified.

I am enormously grateful that there are courageous men and women who seek careers in the police force knowing that at some stage they will almost certainly be ordered to deal with the kind of mayhem that erupted in Whitehawk last weekend.

Most people on the estate, just like everyone else, want to live quietly, peacefully and without fear. It does not seem too much to ask for. And yet a violent, criminal minority is putting the whole community in a constant state of anxiety.

So, in spite of those who have been ranting on about police overreacting and being heavy-handed, let's just pause for a moment. What is certain is that vanloads of riot police did not just descend on a quiet, trouble-free estate and start attacking innocent people with dogs and truncheons because they had nothing better to do that night.

Trained and able to deal with such situations, these officers were called in by frightened residents when a gang of youths, some of whom had been drinking, started fighting. It could, and should, have finished there. But as we now know, more youths, in growing numbers, turned up and the violence escalated. Dangerous, lawless hooligans have to be dealt with effectively. Of course there were injuries - on both sides.

Never forget one simple fact. Innocent, law-abiding people keep well away from such scenes. It is ludicrous for anyone to suggest they were only there because they had just gone out for a packet of cigarettes. In the middle of a dangerous, violent confrontation?!

Criminals will always take advantage of any weakness in the law and especially of any weakness in policing. It has already been effectively demonstrated elsewhere that if you allow low-level criminality to thrive, then you create a climate in which the lawless assume they can get away with more serious and violent crimes.

However, that is part of the perception upon which the policy of 'zero tolerance' policing is based and the Sussex Police leadership has made it clear it has no stomach for such a tough stance.

The same fear of taking a really tough stance was evident in the London riots on May Day when police allowed rioters to get away with all kinds of violence before belatedly moving in. A police spokesman said they did not want to be accused of inflaming the situation.

It is evident that police strategists are anxiously watching their backs and growing more fearful about things they may be accused of, instead of being determinedly single-minded about taking the most effective action to stop crime.

I have no doubt that last Friday night, the Brighton police acted promptly and with the force the situation demanded. Those Whitehawk thugs are the criminals and we are all the victims if we allow them to get away with such lawlessness.