SIR – Over the past few months, on the news and in the paper, the police have been telling us that crime is going down.

Why, then, are the prisons full and David Cameron (pictured) is saying he wants to buy prison ships to help with the overcrowding in the prisons? Is it a case of the police telling porkies, so when they ask for a large increase on the rates, they think we won’t mind?

Well I and others do mind. The police get more than twice the amount that the Fire Brigade are allowed and they are the only reliable emergency service in this country.

A while ago, it was revealed that the West Yorkshire Police were involved in more than 1,000 crashes in a 12-month period. If they learnt to drive, surely this would save us ratepayers some money.

Paul Windle, Spring Avenue, Keighley