SIR - As a recently retired West Mercia officer of 22 years' policing experience, I entirely agree entirely with everything Stanley D Parr says in his recent letter. Locally, we have already seen the shambles arising when many rural stations were closed and police section boundaries redefined. Police resources were moved to the centres of population, making police presence in the countryside largely a thing of the past. I vividly recall that the pleas of Upton-upon-Severn and Kempsey were ignored, reactive policing resources being concentrated on areas such as Worcester and Malvern. That, it now seems, was just the thin end of the wedge.

Policing is all about local knowledge and geographic ownership. Locally, this has already been lost, among both police officers and civilian call takers, to the greater degree in my personal experience.

Surely a regional or national service would only see a repeat of this, but on a bigger scale? A West Mercia merger with Warwickshire, the country's smallest constabulary, has long been mooted, but any wider and our local force would completely lose its unique identity; the Worcester area would become a low priority indeed if the West Midlands police area was involved. Policing is a science, and the best people to organise and deliver that service are experienced police officers - not politicians whose motivation is personal advancement. West Mercia's Chief Constable Paul West should be commended for fighting back against the Home Office's plans

DILIP SARKAR MBE,

Worcester.