often been the voice of reason. Jack Sharpe can speak clearly and put an issue in perspective. That was very evident this week after Police executed a clampdown on motor cycle offenders.

Answering criticisms of the Police action, Sir John Sharpe said: "The Police have concluded that tampering with cycles, which results in noise pollution and speed, as well as cycle theft, were getting out of hand, and there should be a crackdown as a means of identifying offenders and reminding the public that people cannot do these things with impunity.

"I understand that there has been some inconvenience and some young people and their parents are upset, but this has to be set against the public interest which is a victim of tampering and theft.

"Hopefully the point has been made and I understand that the Police have been quite liberal with warnings and cautions.'' Sir John puts the situation very well.

When we first heard of the clampdown we were concerned because too often we render our young people, especially young men, angry and frustrated because they have early confrontations with the Police, more often than not over cycles. There is nothing to be gained from making young people anti-Police and anti-authority before they are even old enough to drive a car.

On the other hand, we have a duty as adults and community "parents'' to promote the safety of young people even if they do not promote that safety themselves. Adults have a duty to protect young people from their own youthful spirits and young folly. Sometimes that becomes more important when actual parents do not do their duty. There was a time, of course, when if you rode an illegal bike to school you would have been stopped very short by your teachers. Now we leave just about everything to the Police.

We have to remember that the clampdown was designed to cut down on cycle theft which is so prevalent that it is virtually taken for granted these days except by those people who have their transport stolen and have to replace an expensive and often uninsurable cycle. It is also designed to cut down on pack racing which is a killer of young people and a danger to other road users.

Those young people and those parents who complained about the Police action on Monday and said that the young riders should have been given a warning so that they could "fix'' the cycles, overlook the fact that it was illegal to tamper with the cycle mufflers etc. in the first place. They also overlook the fact that a cycle "fixed'' this week will be turned back again just as soon as the Police take the heat off.

We must not lose sight of the fact that cycle thefts, noisy cycles and pack racing are not in the public interest no matter how much they might be a "right of passage'' for some young people.