Police stations that closed during years of austerity should be reopened to bring back confidence in law enforcement, a police and crime commissioner said yesterday.
In March the Daily Mail revealed that more than half of Britain’s police stations had closed in the past ten years.
To cut costs, England and Wales have closed at least 667 front-desks where people could speak to officers.
Yesterday, the police and crime commissioner stated that all closed police stations during periods of austerity must be opened to restore confidence in law enforcement.
Alison Hernandez (police and crime commissioner in Devon and Cornwall) stated it was time for a change and to reopen all front counters across this country.
Newquay, Cornwall police station was reopened. Miss Hernandez indicated that there were plans for the same to be done at Tiverton (Devon) and five other locations.
According to her, the stations were closed as few people used them. Chief constables had difficulty convincing her that a counter manned was worthwhile.
‘Once a police station is closed it is flipping hard to get them reopened because we know the footfall will be low,’ she said.
‘But public confidence in policing needs to be reinvigorated and the police have to be accessible, there has to be multiple routes to the police.
‘It feels to many chief constables that there will be a low footfall so it’s a waste of resources. It is understandably controversial in the chief’s world to get that over the line, as many feel like they would rather have the staff than open the police station.’
Joy Allen, the police and crime commissioner for Durham, said access to front counters was a ‘key issue’ and one solution was to combine services and split the cost.
‘There’s an opportunity to have community safety stations where you have wardens, Neighbourhood Watch personnel and other groups so people can go in and report antisocial behaviour – not just limited to police,’ she said.
In September, Northamptonshire Police started running mobile stations, known as ‘neighbourhood beat buses’. Both rural and urban residents have face-to-face contact with officers through the two Volkswagen Crafter vans.
Dixon of Dock Green is being replaced by anarchists and cannabis farmers
Drug dealers reaped rewards
Surprising photos showed how one old station became a large cannabis plant.
The first floor and loft space at Failsworth station in Oldham had been used to grow more than 1,000 plants worth an estimated £1.5million. According to police, the “gardeners” were living in the area.
The station opened in 1892 but was shut in 2013 and sold for £190,000 three years later. The cannabis factory – complete with hydroponic lighting equipment – was discovered in 2019.
The first floor and loft space at Failsworth station in Oldham had been used to grow more than 1,000 plants worth an estimated £1.5million
It wasn’t an isolated event.
It is possible that a Grade II listed former station could have suffered the same fate as it did after closing in 2013.
The site in Winchmore Hill, north-east London, was sold in 2015 for £950,000 and is being converted into six flats.
Two men were detained by the police for growing cannabis in their property last year, causing developers to face a major setback.
Grade II-listed former station Winchmore Hill was sold in 2015 for £950,000 and is being converted into six flats
Squatters took over Stronghold
It was built to provide a stronghold for interrogating IRA terrorists – but years later Paddington Green police station was overrun by anarchists.
For three weeks, eleven members of the Green Anti-Capitalist Front occupied the west London location last February. They smeared the words “all cops and bastards” on the walls. To expel them, it took over 60 police officers, bailiffs, and security personnel.
Paddington Green police station was occupied for three weeks last February by 11 members of the so-called Green Anti-Capitalist Front
In 2018, the station, once extremely secure, was shut down. A petition has been submitted to make it 600-homes.
One former prisoner described it as having “an atmosphere of complete lockdown” during the Troubles. Ronan Bennett wrote that it had an unsettling finality which made one feel as if they would never let them out.