READERS with a nostalgic frame of mind will remember the days when policemen were to be feared and respected.

Most teenagers would be left standing rigid by a tap on the shoulder from the local bobby and the very young would be awe struck.

Parents would instil in their children the idea that the long arm of the law represented total authority and there was nothing worse - or more shameful - than to be told off or cautioned by a member of the local constabulary.

Fear, of course, is not the sort of emotion we would wish our police officers to engender in this day and age but it would be a significant step forward if today’s children thought of them with at least some of the respect for authority they used to enjoy.

So the latest initiative signed up to by the West Yorkshire force is a welcome move towards developing a more positive attitude to the police among young people.

The force has teamed up with the Early Intervention Foundation, a charity which aims to tackle social problems faced by children of all ages.

There can be little doubt that such early intervention will pay dividends in the future.

Building trust and respect by engaging with children at an early age is such an obvious idea that it’s hard not to ask why it hasn’t been done before.

But, of course, it has. Those nostalgic readers will recall when the local bobby was a regular in school assembly, warning of the dangers in talking to strangers and urging caution crossing roads and the like.

It worked - and it will work again. If only the resources are there to help the police get on with it....