You quote Sgt Andy Cranidge, of Thames Valley Police, as saying that the noise from the Mosquito device cannot be heard by children and babies (Oxford Mail, February 13).

This is not true. This is made clear in the report of the Applied Environmental Research Centre, to be found on the Mosquito maker's website.

Most, but not all, people lose the ability to hear the Mosquito between 20 and 25 years old.

There is no improvement in hearing between childhood and teenage years, so children and babies can indeed hear it.

The police are guilty of a serious distortion of the truth.

Secondly, it is true that the Mosquito causes teenagers to disperse, but there appears to be a presumption that all assemblies of teenagers are unlawful or that they are all troublemakers.

There is no evidence to support this presumption.

I accept that some groups of teenagers do cause a problem for some shopkeepers, but that is an issue for the police to deal with, using the resources we collectively pay for.

The population of Oxfordshire is 600,000 plus, with about 9,000 people in each year group. This means there are well over 60,000 teenagers in our county.

The overwhelming majority are not committing any recordable offences. Just being present in a group in a public place is not sufficient cause to disperse people.

Young people are entitled to the same respect as older people.

If we don't show young people respect, we can't expect respect back. Imagine if this device dispersed Jews, gays or Pakistanis, would your editorial have been so enthusiastic?

The only justification for using the Mosquito is where a group is clearly breaking a law. Then it should be used only by properly trained people.

If we give private people the 'right' to disperse teenagers with sound, how long is it before we give them the power to do it with pepper spray or CS gas?

The police are already talking of neighbourhood watch patrols. The age of the vigilante is virtually upon us.

PAUL WESSON Brome Way Carterton