I WOULD imagine that for as long as there has been a police service there have been male police officers who have been violent towards their wives and partners. In my era (1960s to end of the last century), although it undoubtedly took place, little of it came to light, mainly I believe because women put up with more than they should have and also most had no financial independence.

The recently revealed statistics of sexual misconduct within Police Scotland are shocking but it is also welcome that more victims are coming forward. However, several phrases in your report ("Over 160 Scots police officers accused of sexual misconduct", The Herald, October 11) are disturbing, for example "Not one officer was dismissed" and "serving officers with proven cases of sexual misconduct who remain on active duty".

 

A senior officer issues a response with all the appropriate words, but the truth is that the "appropriate action" mentioned by her has not addressed the problem.

It is so typical of modern society that no one except the victim actually suffers. When tragedy or hurt occurs someone in authority will talk about "learning lessons" and "ensuring that these things will not happen again", but in reality those responsible seldom get their just deserts.

There is little doubt that it is often difficult to obtain sufficient evidence to secure a "wife or partner assault" in a court of law but that doesn’t stop action being taken against the offending officer under the discipline code where the outcome is decided on "the balance of probabilities" and not the criminal standard of "beyond reasonable doubt".

Police officers hold a very privileged position in society; if they abuse their power or position they should not be allowed to serve.

W MacIntyre, East Kilbride.

MORE PROBLEMS WITH ALARM LAW

IN addition to the problems Steven Smith (Letters, October 11) raises regarding the installation of combined heat and smoke alarms, I can foresee others.

I recently received a flier from a company offering its services in the selection and installation of these systems. While I'm sure that they are reputable, I would expect that the cowboys must be rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of turning up on people's doorsteps (particularly if elderly or otherwise vulnerable) and pressing them to agree to the installation of shoddy or substandard goods for an extortionate price, and perhaps "casing the joint" for other valuables while they are at it.

I recall a letter (September 6) from Neil Sinclair, who had at one point headed the fire investigation section of Strathclyde Fire Brigade. He threw down the gauntlet to the current head of the Scottish Fire & Rescue to give examples of how this added expenditure would actually help save more lives, but I do not recollect any response.

Since Mr Sinclair's letter, we are all well aware of the massive increases in fuel costs and of other shortages that face every one of us in the coming months. A significant proportion of the population are likely to have more pressing decisions on how to spend £200-plus than on a system whose benefit is likely to be minimal.

Christopher W Ide, Waterfoot.

* STEPHEN Smith justifiably forecasts mass disobedience in terms of the smoke and heat alarm legislation. I would willingly join the ranks of the dissenters but for fear of my home insurer's attitude to non-compliance.

Mass disobedience may also be forecast in relation to the much talked-about laws requiring the extraordinarily expensive and disruptive installation of heat pumps to replace gas boilers. And what about the many homes with gas cookers, about which we have heard nothing? Again, insurance companies will have a hand to play in satisfying the demands of the green lobby.

David Miller, Milngavie.

TIME TO TURN GAS BACK ON

RECENTLY the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) proposed a green tax on natural gas to pay for the UK's net zero ambitions. Heating and cooking would become mega expensive just like renewables electricity, where subsidies to wind turbine owners of £10 billion a year are added to our electricity bills. That was before this latest gas crisis.

Our politicians, looking through green-tinted spectacles, reduced our gas storage capability. The price of imported gas has rocketed, meaning more fuel poverty and more winter deaths. Boris Johnson should sack all the green climate change zealots in his Government and those at BEIS, start fracking, exploit reserves in the North Sea and build numerous gas storage facilities.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow.

THERE WILL BE NO EMERGENCY EXIT

GREEN co-leader and now (unbelievably) Government minister Lorna Slater has said that protests are intended to disrupt and that she will approve of this in the Glasgow area during COP26. She also says that protesters should allow emergency service vehicles through a protest road block. Has she thought this through?

When a road block blocks a road, there is a massive tailback of vehicles. Perhaps Ms Slater can explain, with her customary cheery plausibility, how she would get an ambulance or fire engine that is stuck in a tailback through to the front of the blockade to speed it on its way?

Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh.

* INSTEAD of closing the M8 ("Pope Francis will not attend Glasgow climate summit as tensions rise over security", The Herald, October 9) why not insist that the US President stays at a Glasgow hotel near to the conference?

Alan Millar, Bearsden.

MAN, INTERRUPTING

RECENT persistent interrupting in the course of political interviews highlights my own experience of social intercourse and that close to home – no matter how often I interrupt, some people just keep on talking.

Whatever happened to good manners?

R Russell Smith, Largs.