A JEWELLERS targeted by thieves for the fourteenth time in 12 years illustrates the sharp contrast between police promises and reality. We also hear about young men shot in the town centre and a claim that there was no police attendance for about 50 minutes.

De Marsac Jewellers in Beaconsfield was a victim of the lack of police resources in South Bucks and the refusal of the district council to invest in CCTV in the town. Last month Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Sir Charles Pollard vowed to crack down on crime in the district but residents are waiting for action not more words.

Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross will continue to be popular to criminals as neighbouring towns and villages have CCTV, leaving them exposed as unmonitored criminal havens.

Where was the extra police presence promised by Sir Charles as two men tried to smash their way into the jewellers armed with a sledgehammer? Where were the police in 1993 when Andre De Marsac, shop owner, was so badly battered by an armed raider that he nearly lost a finger struggling to keep thieves off his property?

This week we hear from a couple who say police took 50 minutes to come into their street after three young men were shot. Police said they had to wait for an armed response vehicle but children and people on their way to work were able to criss-cross the crime scene. Eventually, police sealed the road and started a minute search for clues. Was it by then too late?

Thames Valley Police need to apply sophisticated policing witnessed in the prevention of riots in London to their everyday relations in the community.

They claim that Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross have a low crime rate compared to neighbouring Slough, so they concentrate their resources there.

This kind of short-sighted policing is an anathema to the British ideal of equality because the population of Slough commit more crime, they have more police, leaving Beaconsfield exposed.

It is alluded to by Beaconsfield MP Dominic Grieve, who claims criminals "commute" from Slough to more affluent neighbours for rich and easy pickings.

Surely the police and the South Bucks District Council can see this. Why are there so few police on the streets of Beaconsfield and why has the raising of funds for CCTV cameras been left to the chamber of commerce?

It just doesn't make sense.