The alarmist headline of your June 27 edition suggests that making police officers of retirement age retire when they don't want to is somehow detrimental to police efficiency.

Every officer who is at the end of their service knows full well that, when they joined, they expected to leave after 30 years.  The management of Surrey Police must assume that officers are likely to retire after completing their time and make provision for that.  The fact that some officers are earning a lot of money and would like to stay beyond their 30 years is irrelevant - if they do so they can retire at any time with but one month's notice, which leaves the management in a permanent state of uncertainty.  Better the management uses their powers to impose retirement to better manage their workforce.

ALL employers lose key personnel, along with their skills and experience, on their retirement, and the police is no different to any other employer.

The crocodile tears of the Police Federation are typical - perhaps they would like to tell the public how many Surrey officers, paid by council tax payers to do what the public expects police officers to do, are engaged either full-time or partly on federation "duties" and rarely, if ever, exercise their police powers.

Brian Pascall
West Street
Epsom