SADLY, the harsh reality is that our police force does have to prioritise which incidents officers respond to first, but that will be little comfort to anyone who is the victim of a crime not deemed an immediate priority.

Years of funding cuts have left us with a police force with fewer officers and thus less capacity to respond to and investigate all offences.

So, if you're the victim of vandalism, like Simon Holden whose car's wing-mirrors have been smashed five times, you have little hope of seeing justice done, despite paying taxes which fund the police force.

For the overworked officers, you can only have sympathy. It's not that they don't want to attend every incident and solve more crimes, they simply don't have the time to do everything required.

So don't point the finger at West Mercia Police when complaining, direct your anger at the people in government who have overseen years of funding cuts.

The bottom line is that our police forces need more officers and that means more money from central government.