I, AND probably a large number of other people, view the change of policy by the police regarding fuel thefts with considerable unease. (Times, June 4). One really must ask what do the police actually stand for or do? The list of what they now don't do grows longer yearly although naturally the cost of this retreating organisation to council tax payers grows annually. They don't now transport prisoners, they don't have a presence at court, they don't deal with parking, they don't prosecute offenders. Instead they hand out fixed penalties for shop lifting and inappropriate cautions in respect of quite serious offences. They have closed police stations and inquiry desks to the public. All this with an army of back office staff to assist which they never used to have. This change of policy regarding fuel thefts is plain wrong and ill-thought out.  Theft is a serious offence and can result in a lengthy prison sentence, hardly a matter to be downgraded to a civil procedure. No wonder crime is supposed to be going down — it will do if theft is not theft. More money might be saved if the police stopped driving around in expensive foreign vehicles and spent much less time cavorting about in Abbeyford Woods several times a week. John Todd Curlew Close Okehampton