ACCORDING to the article headed Drying Up Crime Fuelled By Drink (Daily Echo, July 23), drink-fuelled violence is increasing while most crime is reducing. This surely should have read most reported' crime is reducing. It is only the Home Office who perceive that crime is reducing while those of us who reside in Southampton's deprived areas know differently.

For the Home Office to try to con us into believing that our fear of crime increasing is misguided, is a bit like saying that it has not rained much this summer but our fear of flooding has increased.

Many of us do not report criminal incidents because we know from past experience that the only response will be a letter from Victim Support, that is if we manage to get a police officer to attend in the first place. To ask us to pay 10p to use 101 to report ongoing incidents of criminal damage, or life threatening incidents is another kick in the teeth, seemingly devised by politicians to encourage us not to report crime.

I contend that the only way to get close to the true crime figures is to equate all crime to the reported increase in crimes of violence, including unlawful killings, as those are the crimes most likely to be reported. Although even then many assaults not requiring hospital attendance go unreported for various reasons.

While I applaud the initiative to offer help and guidance to those victims of alcohol who appear in court as a consequence, I would like to see a lot more assistance on offer for those alcoholics who have not come to the courts' attention, but who need help to recover.

A KEBBELL, Southampton.