22 APRIL 1978, Page 18

Whose liberties?

Sir: Referring to the NCCL Fact sheets, Know Your Rights, Mr Gale writes (8 April): 'It's difficult to know for whom they are intended. They will not reach the common criminal. The law-abiding man has no need of them.' This seems to imply either that the police never make mistakes or that those they arrest are automatically guilty. It is precisely to combat such implications that the NCCL is necessary; and also to protect a smug law-abiding man', such as Mr Gale when he is mistaken for a 'common criminal' or, if one day he becomes one, from his being denied his rights on this account. Anthony Edkins

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