SIR – I agree with Bill Longmore, West Mercia’s police and crime commissioner (Worcester News, April 2).
There is nothing wrong with the police giving flowers to victims of crime in appropriate circumstances.
It is regrettable that people elsewhere have been cynical about this sort of practice.
The example he offered from his own police career where officers had a whipround to help a victim whose money was stolen is heartening.
Despite declining respect for police officers caused by a disproportionately small number of highly publicised appalling cases, the overwhelming majority remain committed to serving their communities.
Their job involves physical and emotional dangers and on a daily basis they experience things many of us never do in a lifetime.
They, too, feel the same things as the rest of us and perhaps more than most appreciate the range and depth of distress and isolation the victims of crime can feel.
Providing flowers is a kindly human act which can help restore faith in human nature at a difficult time.
It doesn’t surprise me that police officers pay to fund these gestures.Indeed they are often involved in a lot of charity work.
Policing is a human and community-minded activity and anything that helps victims is to be welcomed.
Good for them .
ANDREW BROWN
Worcester
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