THE case of Mrs Rose, Tesco and the police (April 14) raises three points.

First, the ability of North Yorkshire Police to target motorists contrasts sharply with their ability to deal with issues that really matter to York residents and surrounding villages.

They should get out of their cars and spend more time doing what ratepayers need them to do - provide more of a presence in areas which really need it. Sending two officers to investigate a £20 mistake is a crass waste of resources.

How was Tesco able to elicit such a rapid response from the police to such a minor incident? I have known much more serious incidents be ignored, or take weeks to be dealt with. If Tesco is so keen to protect its profits, it should use some of the £2 billion it made last year to employ more security staff and use them on forecourts, rather than waste police time in this way.

The publicly-funded police should not be used to protect Tesco profits.

J H Oakley,

Pike Hills Mount,

Copmanthorpe, York.

Updated: 11:15 Monday, April 18, 2005