The news that a major Bradford company is sponsoring the police to the tune of £15,000 a year as a "thank you" for increased patrols around its premises raises a number of disturbing questions. Not least of these is: what sort of a city has Bradford become when employees feel threatened when coming to or leaving their place of work?

Small wonder the people of Manningham some years ago acted to drive prostitutes out of their district when they decided they'd had enough of the sort of kerb-crawling activities which have recently been making life so difficult for employees of Provident Financial in Sunbridge Road.

It is only right that the police should have agreed to increase the number of patrols in the area. Kerb crawlers can be more than a nuisance. Their approaches to ordinary women as they walk to work can cause a lot of distress.

However, should companies which are given improved protection like this feel that they should make a contribution to the cost of it? The fact that Provident Financial has persuaded the police to raise the profile of their patrols, and has been prepared to help to fund them, will no doubt have helped to reduce the fear of crime throughout that area.

As such, the initiative will have been widely welcomed. However, is it right that a company should have to enter into this sort of arrangement to secure effective policing? Or should the Government be giving the cash-strapped police forces enough funding out of the taxes we pay to allow them to do their job properly?