SIR,

Although terribly predictable, I still find it deeply disappointing that our MP has been unable to rise above his RoboCop view of the world.

He responded to the recent English riots with a kneejerk call for the police to use greater physical force against the rioters, including striking them with batons and 'kettling' them ("Let Police officers use physical force" Beacon 17th August 2011).

Has David Davies learnt nothing from his much-vaunted stint as a Special Constable in the British Transport Police?

Has he forgotten about Ian Tomlinson, an innocent passerby, who was caught in the police 'kettling' of the G20 summit in London in 2009, struck in the back of his legs by a police baton, pushed to the ground and killed?

Did he miss the death of Dale Burns in Cumbria last week, a young man in his 20s, who died later after being struck three times by a police Taser gun – one of the weapons of police control favoured in the past by Mr Davies?

And did he not read the comments of Sir Hugh Orde, former head of the Northern Ireland Police Service, a career policeman who I suspect has seen a few more riots than Mr Davies?

Two weeks ago, he wrote: "What we have seen is not soft policing, and although I understand the enthusiasm of politicians and communities for robust measures, excessive force will destroy our model of policing in the long term. What we must hang on to in all of this is the British model of policing, premised on human rights and the minimum use of force."

The answer to mob violence, Mr Davies, is not police violence.

The answer is to address the causes, and not just the symptoms.

And of the many causes of the English riots, one on which I'm sure we can all agree is poor parenting.

How ironic, therefore, that it is a Conservative Prime Minister who has broken his pledge to protect the funding for Sure Start centres in England, which were set up by the last Labour Government to teach better parenting.

Thankfully, here in Wales, a Labour-led Assembly Government has maintained its support for publicly-funded parenting programmes.

Hamish Sandison

(Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Monmouth, 2007 to 2010)