I am interested in the comments made by Philip Booth of the Institute of Economic Affairs regarding police pensions (Pension report dismissed as "a red herring", The Press, January 15).

I make no apologies for the fact that, at the age of 50, I left the police service having served, to the day, 30 years, and took my pension.

The working life of the majority of police officers is like no other, with the exception of accident and emergency staff in hospitals.

Police officers, irrespective of gender or ethnic background, are on a daily basis abused and assaulted, deal with violent incidents, and people with horrific injuries and in extremely sad situations, with precious little support from their organisation.

They don't only deal with one such incident but frequently move from one to another and are, rightly, expected to perform professionally and to the best of their ability.

It is for this and a host of other reasons that police officers should be allowed to retire early. It is not as if officers have not paid for their pensions; 11 per cent of my salary was taken to contribute toward my pension.

If that money had been handled properly then, like the miners, the police service would have a proper pension fund and not be in the sorry state it is today.

Officers starting today do pay slightly less into the pension funds, but are now expected to serve 35 years, which unless they start very early, will mean most will not actually receive a full pension due to reaching age limits.

Shortly after robbing the police of a significant part of their pay rise, the Government announced a 2.4 per cent pay rise for teachers I wonder how valued the officer patrolling your neighbourhood is feeling and what Mr Booth has done in his working day today?

Roger Smith, Lime Tree Mews, Dunnington, York.