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Democratic overload

I'm all in favour of democracy, but isn't this Safer Neighbourhoods campaign taking things to extremes? We're encouraged to text our views on priorities for local policing and are given a choice of potential problems to tackle. Do we live in fear of "The Groups", for instance? Is "The Dark Alley" top of our list? Or should we worry more about "The Journey"?

I can't help feeling that this exercise is a little bit of a gimmick. What if I'm frightened of the groups who hide in dark alleys on my journey home? I'd have to vote three times at great personal expense. And all my votes would cancel each other out.

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