The recent arrests in Derby Road bring to total, as far as I can make out, four firearms incidents in the last few weeks in Enfield. The recent shooting in Brimsdown, the arrest in Wellington Road and the discovery on the Elsinge Estate, along with this one in Ponders End, shows a worrying trend.

Whist I congratulate the police on taking these weapons off the street, it does make me wonder how many others are not being picked up. Is this recent activity indicative of how criminals feel, that the ‘coast is clear’,so to speak? With fewer and fewer officers on the streets, it must give these individuals greater confidence that they will get away with this behaviour.

I rarely see police on the streets now, whether that be on foot or mobile, so it must be heaven for these with criminal intentions.

I go back to the Local Policing Module introduced in Sept 2013, where we were assured that we would see no reduction in policing levels in Turkey Street, but that promise has seen us lose four out of the six officers we had.

Serious youth violence is on the rise and yet questions are asked as to why this increase. Isn’t it obvious? Criminals feel untouchable at the moment as the likelihood of getting caught is getting less and less.

I understand that Enfield police station may be at risk of being closed. Won’t this mean a longer response time to any issues on the peripheries of the borough?

Are we going to see further incidents of gun-related crime come the next round of budget cuts for the police, where even more officers will be taken off the streets?

Rick Jewell

Hoe Lane, Enfield