YORK police respond quickly to most calls for help. That makes their alleged failure to turn out to a serious disturbance in Heworth all the more prominent.

This is a disturbing story on so many levels. A gang of drunken youths smashed up the area's community centre with beer and whisky bottles. Such late night loutish behaviour is, apparently, not unusual.

That points to a shocking abdication of parental responsibility. These parents clearly could not care less about the welfare of their children, or about the neighbourhood. The blame for this mindless vandalism should be shared between the young thugs and the parents who raise them.

Meanwhile, Heworth residents are paying the price. The vice chairman of the community centre, Les Battams, witnessed the property being wrecked. He did what any of us would do, and called the police. When he finally got through, he says someone in the force control room told him they had no resources.

Quite simply, this is not good enough. The police are there to prevent crime, to arrest criminals and to protect public and property. Here, they failed on all counts.

Fortunately, such lapses are rare. But if this is a resources problem, it could happen again.

That would be a deeply worrying development. If it became apparent that officers were not being despatched to incidents such as the one in Heworth, public faith in the force would be undermined. People would be less willing to report crimes or help in their detection.

At the same time, it would give a green light to the criminals.

North Yorkshire police now has more manpower than ever before. A 40 per cent hike in the council tax precept is paying for this much-needed increase.

So we are now left to ask if the best use is being made of these extra resources. The Central Area, including York, has 42 per cent of the force's crime yet less than a third of police resources. That imbalance is something the Chief Constable must address.

Updated: 10:53 Wednesday, April 24, 2002