THE thin blue police line covering Ronkswood, described by Councillor Mike Layland in today's Evening News, is worrying for anyone who has the area's best interests at heart.

From the outset, let's emphasise that no one's being critical of the men and women whose job it is to serve and protect.

As he so rightly says, they can only do what their "limited resources" allow them.

It's not of the residents' making, and it's not of the police's - and therein lies the problem.

Because it's easy to understand people in Ronkswood who say that, no matter how far beyond the call of duty officers like beat manager Liz Norcott work, life there doesn't feel as safe and secure as they have a right to expect.

And it's no harder to appreciate the frustration which must be felt in all corners of Worcester's Castle Street police station that their sterling efforts are falling short. The last thing they'd want is people taking the law into their own hands.

No matter how strong the urge, no matter how understandable the reasoning that information needs a bobby to act upon it, apart from appealing to the petty troublemakers to mend their ways, all we can do is encourage residents to be the police's eyes and ears.

In a week when Worcester MP Mike Foster's been juggling one hot potato labelled 'education funding', he could do without another tagged 'police resources'.

But all concerned crave a situation in which the public feels safe and sound, and the police regard themselves as being able to deliver the cover for that to happen.

And he's the logical person for them to turn to. There's no time to be lost in doing so.