YOU don’t begrudge Sara Thornton, the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, her job at the moment.

As we report today, Ms Thornton has told Oxford City Council she can’t guarantee cuts to the force will not adversely affect the crime rate.

She and her senior officers have pledged the number of police on patrol and in neighbourhood teams will not be reduced, but there are jobs going and it would be a miracle if we did not see a rise in crime.

All our police force can do is try to prioritise.

But there are two good examples of how that is not an easy task for Ms Thornton and colleagues.

At the same meeting she had to address why there has been no active speed enforcement of the 20mph limits within the city, while we also reveal today that Thames Valley Police Authority had to spend £96,000 on nice leaflets telling people how the force was performing. Surely we want police to concentrate on real dangers to the public rather than propping up a speed limit that is rapidly looking like an expensive vanity project.

And wouldn’t it be nice if the Government mandarins taking away from the police budget with one hand weren’t forcing with the other the pointless waste of almost £100,000 that could be used elsewhere?