WITH hindsight, it was only going to be a matter of time before someone warned the police that, if the law did not deal with the problems of yobs on the streets of Worcester, residents would.

We trust last night's threat in Warndon and Warndon Villages was an expression of the frustration felt by thousands, a knee-jerk which will come nowhere near reality.

On the other hand, in recent months, there's hardly been a quarter of the Faithful City which hasn't faced the misery of dealing with yobbery. Ronkswood, St John's, Brickfields. The list goes on.

If our pre-Election coverage has done anything, it's confirmed that - but who knows where the current simmering will turn to boiling point.

We wouldn't advocate residents turning vigilante. Nor do we disagree that the police force - shorn of the ability to hold a yob's ear at the end of a hairy arm - depends more than ever on public help.

However, we also find it hard not to agree with the view of one angry resident who told officers that it isn't his job to "police the streets". It isn't.

One worrying aspect for police regarding such sentiments, of course, would be if the threat became real.

They wouldn't want the public, untrained, unequipped but angry, trying to patrol the streets. Neither would they wish to see the same kind of feeling surface in other parts of the Faithful City.

Two facts remain, however. First, the greater the problem grows, the more likely that will happen. Second, someone has to provide the answer - and soon.