I believe it was less than half a century ago that the first university graduate was recruited into the British police. I bet no one spoke to him!

Now there are, of course, a fair number with honours degrees, who expect to rise fairly swiftly up the ranks.

The more modest Foundation Degree in Policing strikes me as being reasonable, although I would be interested to learn what academic qualifications will be required by officers embarking upon such a course, as opposed to those who enter the force by more conventional means.

One does not want the average bobby to be a half-witted, semi-illiterate ignoramus, but, on the other hand, there is little room for those who ponder matters so deeply that it impedes their routine duties.

Successful students, we are told, will start their careers fit for independent patrol, having carried out an unspecified amount of the on-the-job training as special constables, whose role presumably tends to be rather different from their waged, full-time counterparts.

We must obviously aim to avoid the situation said to be prevalent nowadays in nursing, for example, where ‘graduates’ are unable or unwilling to perform basic tasks traditionally deemed part and parcel of that presumed vocation.

DAVID DIMENT, Riverside Court, Oxford