SIR – There is a whiff of hypocrisy about our local MPs’ outraged response to the revelation that last year more than 7,000 offences were dealt with by police caution.

For years, our politicians have demanded less bureaucracy, more bobbies on the beat and more prosecutions, while ignoring the ‘downside’, which is the huge investment in time and effort needed to make a case and secure a conviction.

I assume from their one-sided comments that they were all unaware that for centuries customs officers have been able to punish revenue offences by way of compounding.

Now described as ‘administrative settlements’, offenders from small-scale smugglers to major tax evaders can avoid prosecution by admitting the offence, paying the duty evaded plus a ‘compromise penalty’.

That the police are now able to use similar shortcuts shows that at long last their procedures have caught up with methods used to great effect by the excise since the days of Robbie Burns.

Perhaps our MPs would rather see all offenders ‘have their day in court’.

In these hard times, however, it would seem they are doomed to disappointment because in future, the only viable alternative to cautions and fixed penalties will be ‘no further action’.

Brian Holmans, Langley Road, Bingley