WITH reference to news items that have recently appeared in the Bolton News and the national press regarding the formation’s of vigilante groups in Blackrod and Horwich, the latest being; “Fears Horwich Vigilante groups could form to fight crime”.

With regards to the latest headline, I fail to see how law abiding residents of the aforementioned areas who are sick to the back teeth of the anti-social behaviour, would “Fear” a vigilante group that would want to make their neighbourhood safer?

The police are becoming a heavily politicised force, ‘governed by cultural Marxists, bogged down by endless red tape and political correctness, they are now no longer fit for purpose.’ They have already stated that they will only respond promptly to calls for help from the public if “they” consider it to be a ‘life threatening situation’. What they consider petty crime such as shop lifting, anti-social behaviour, car theft, criminal damage and burglaries ect, means that if you call them, it is unlikely they’ll turn up anytime soon, if at all!

The public are constantly being fed the ‘bog standard’ politician's response, that there’s no money for police, but yet people are having a far greater percentage of their earnings than they have ever had before forcibly removed from them in the form of ever more new taxes and levies. The latest one being Burnham’s newly dreamed up Mayoral tax on top of their already exorbitant council tax bill.

The only truly legitimate function of a government, ‘any government’ (local and/or national) is law and order and the defence of the nation and its people from coercion. All other considerations are secondary. In this they fail dismally.

Whilst vigilantism doesn’t sound nice for those who are largely unaffected by, ‘what is now considered by the authorities and the police’ as, “only petty crime and only low-level anti-social behaviour at that”, for those people whose lives are constantly blighted by the authorities inability to protect them from the criminals in their communities, vigilantes patrolling the streets to keep crime down in place of the non-existent police is much better than nothing at all!

Stuart A Chapman

Stacks villas

Tralee

Ireland