I DO not often visit Witham but had occasion to do so last Thursday.

While stuck in a traffic jam in Newland Street, I witnessed a group of young men running in the road, a series of fights, one person beaten to the ground and his head repeatedly kicked like a football.

The running fight continued for much of the length of Newland Street and for some time. As far as I could tell the problem was caused by ‘he hit my (car?) window’.

The shop keepers and office workers in Newland Street, together with those that pass by conducting their normal day to day business are entitled to carry on their lives without witnessing such awful, feral behaviour.

The police response was by fast cars having to drive through traffic jams and not arriving until 20 minutes or more after the fighting started. You can have only admiration for he police officers who have to deal with this sort of thuggery.

I recollect the Essex Police and Crime Commissioner, giving an interview to your paper some time ago, stating that the days of a policeman on the beat or in the locality were over.

Present day policing was by the intelligence and rapid response.

I could not help thinking yesterday that a local police presence, probably with an officer who recognised the troublemakers, would be useful protection and something that those in the town deserve.

Michael Kingdom of Stortford Road, Great Dunmow