of it deserved.

But Monday's "siege'' demonstrated that the Service has professional and well-trained officers who can manage a crisis and bring it to a peaceful conclusion.

It may never be known what prompted Ansel Johnston to hold his mother hostage in her apartment and, having released her, to refuse to come out of the barricaded building himself.

What is certain is that the Police, confronted with a disturbed man wielding a knife and posing a threat to others and to themselves, did not panic, but approached the crisis in a textbook manner and convinced Mr. Johnston to surrender without hurting anyone.

It would have been easy for the well-armed Emergency Response Team to follow the example of too many TV dramas and decide to storm the house. How Mr.

Johnston would have responded to that boggles the mind. The Police deserve credit for their restraint.

It was much harder for the Police to decide to use patience and to let their well-trained negotiators do their jobs. But that is what happened and the drama ended peacefully.

Training and discipline were the hallmarks of this operation -- it is to be hoped that the Police will apply them to all facets of their duty.

FISHPOT PLANS EDT Fishpot plans Environment Minister Arthur Hodgson is correctly winning support for his decision to offer a virtual amnesty for people who know where fishpots are located.

The amnesty, which follows a crackdown by Marine Police on fishermen using illegal fishpots, deserves the support of other fishermen who are using pots or know where abandoned pots are located.

The latter pots are incredibly dangerous; left on the seabed, they become killing machines, decimating school after school of fish.

Mr. Hodgson's second decision -- to allow fishermen convicted of using illegal pots to apply for new commercial fishing licences next year -- will have raised some eyebrows.

After all, why should someone convicted of openly flouting a law be given the opportunity to go back out and do it again? But the other side of the argument is that the fishermen concerned, who pleaded guilty to the offence in court, have been punished and publicly humiliated. It is to be hoped that they have learned their lesson -- and can see that justice can be tempered with mercy.

They should also be aware that if they go back to their old tricks, the courts and the Government will not be so merciful a second time.