I WISH I could believe that Hampshire Police were more enlightened than their colleagues in Devon and Cornwall.

But I fear the Deputy Chief Constable, Ian Readhead, speaks with forked tongue when he warns of the dangers of a surveillance society.

Who has encouraged local authorities to install spy cameras in an effort to cut crime? None other than the police, of course.

Since the first camera was installed in Bournemouth in 1986, there has been a steady and consistent erosion of civil liberties.

We have now reached the stage, as Mr Readhead rightly points out, where the threat of an Orwellian society hangs over us all.

I live in Dawlish, a small town in Devon which is clearly not dissimilar to Stockbridge. We enjoy one of the lowest crime rates in the country.

Yet Dawlish Town Council has just spent £80,000 on a network of spy cameras to tackle a problem that didn't exist - a classic case of tilting at windmills.

I, and a number of friends, have been protesting at this gross invasion of privacy and erosion of civil liberties.

A month or so ago, I published a leaflet comparing the threat posed by CCTV cameras to that of the Nazis and the Stasi.

My reward? To have been cautioned by the police and given a fixed penalty notice (£80) under the Public Order Act for - allegedly - causing harassment, alarm and distress within the community.

So, before Mr Readhead waxes too lyrical about the threat to civil liberties, let him reflect on the stage we're at - and how we got there.

His remarks on the BBC's Politics Show smack all too clearly of Orwellian doublethink.

KEITH SHARP, Dawlish.