C W Booth's letter Begging the Question (Evening Press, January 1) seems to reinforce the impression gained by officers during the recent multi-agency initiative on begging in York.

Officers found that very few of the people dealt with had no address and also, on the first day of the operation when the weather was bad, no one was actually "sleeping out."

There are vulnerable people and real hardship cases, but there are also people making a living from professional begging.

The best way to ensure you help the homeless and don't hand your cash to con artists is to give to a proper charity or agency who will provide real help, not just the next fix.

Gary Barnett,

Chief Inspector,

North Yorkshire Police,

Fulford Road,

York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.