MY fellow columnist Derek Jameson stirred things up with the police on Tuesday when he said Shoreham was facing a wave of petty crime. So bad, he said, there was talk of vigilante groups and people popping out to buy pickaxe handles.

What got him fired up was the drastic cuts in opening times at Shoreham police station - nine-to-five bankers' hours, he called them.

The point Derek was seeking to make, of course, is that he reckons the thin blue line in parts of Sussex is now so thin you almost have to narrow your eyes to see it. And what the Chief Constable and his colleagues must do is get to grips with the penny-pincher bureaucrats who are slashing costs to meet targets set by the suits at the Bean Counter Central that is Whitehall.

But Kit Bentham, Divisional Commander for the Hove and Shoreham Division, has blasted back. He says Derek attempts to paint a picture of a crime-ridden Shoreham when in reality it is a low crime area.

Writing to us, he goes on to say that a recent crime and disorder audit conducted by Sussex Police, Adur Council and West Sussex County Council, shows this to be the case and also that the fear of crime is far more debilitating than the reality of it. All Derek has done, says Mr Bentham, is succeed in helping those who prefer to fuel that fear.

There have been spates of vandalism in Shoreham and Southwick, and the police take active steps to prevent or detect them. However, Mr Bentham goes on to say that the so-called "100 vehicles talked about in hushed tones" probably refers to an event last August when, regrettable though it was, only ten cars are known to have been affected.

Derek, he says, would like us to believe revised opening hours of the inquiry office at Shoreham somehow affect the level of villainy in the area. He ignores the fact that inquiry office assistants rarely, if ever, catch criminals and to waste resources by keeping staff in police stations in the vain hope criminals will give themselves up is a nonsense.

The shorter opening hours save the salary equivalent of almost two constables who are best deployed solving the problems on the streets.

But Derek should come and see for himself and spend an evening out with one of his officers. Challenge accepted. Del tells me he's up for it, so sort out a date, Mr Bentham.

Aslip of the tongue in court led us to inadvertently upset Worthing Football Club, currently mid-table in Division One of the Ryman League.

In our story on Tuesday about a police bid to have Worthing magistrates declare four men who run popular bars in the town unfit to do so, we reported that the soccer club had organised a Ladies' Fun Night to raise funds.

In fact the event was arranged by the football widows of a different outfit altogether - Worthin United football club, who play in the Sussex County League. I am happy to set the record straight but must point that our reporter faithfully recorded what was actually said in court during the case, which ended when police dropped their bid to revoke the licences.

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