On the face of it, the police seem to have done themselves no favours with their handling of the case of a Neighbourhood Watch member who became involved in a row at Allerton.

To a casual observer, it seems wrong that someone who was working with the police to try to help to maintain law and order should have been officially warned about her behaviour after a row with a person from a group at the centre of a number of long-running complaints.

Obviously, police have to act on the evidence available to them at any given time but it seems reasonable to suggest that perhaps they could have better taken into account the history of previous problems which was apparently involved.

Incidents of this nature are always very difficult to deal with and the police tread a fine line when they try to pick the wheat from the chaff of who did what to whom.

Clearly, on this occasion, the residents feel mightily aggrieved by what has taken place and it seems their frustration may have boiled over.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of this particular incident, the net effect now seems to be that this area of Allerton is no longer served by a Neighbourhood Watch group because those who previously took part have lost confidence in the police.

It is deeply ironic that the Council has now decided to step up pressure on the protagonists and enforcement action is being taken. The powers it has to do so were created specifically for this type of situation and it's a great shame that they weren't brought into use earlier.

A better co-ordinated, multi-agency approach at an earlier stage could have averted a situation where police now have to start all over again to win the confidence of this community.