SIR – With regard to your recent article “MP’s concerned as criminals given cautions instead of appearing in court”, I thought it might be useful to set some of the comments in the piece in context.

Throughout West Yorkshire last year we arrested over 80,000 offenders. A caution was issued in only 7,736 of these cases and this is significantly less than the national average for other police forces.

With regard to burglary, we charged over 96 per cent of all offenders – less than four per cent received a caution and these tended, as you might expect, to be in cases which were unusual or exceptional.

In relation to sexual offences, we charged more than 98 per cent of offenders, and cautions were only administered in circumstances where, for example, two youngsters engage in consensual sex but one is above the age of consent and one below.

This pattern was repeated with assaults, whereby the overwhelming majority of offenders were charged – the exceptions tending to be where there was no injury or only superficial injury was caused.

Cautions are useful because they give some people a ‘second chance’, allowing them to learn their lesson and to avoid a lengthy and unnecessary journey through the courts and criminal justice system.

Cautions are not appropriate for persistent offenders, and that is not how West Yorkshire Police use them.

I realise that at first glance 7,736 cautions may appear a high number, but set against the overall number of arrests we make in a year, it is a drop in the ocean by comparison.

David Crompton QPM, Deputy Chief Constable, West Yorkshire Police