Police Counters to Close

[Colin James]

Police Counters to Close in September according to this article in this week's HT.

 

THE front counters at all the market town police stations in Herefordshire are

to close next month, including in Ledbury Station, off the Worcester Road.

West Mercia Police has confirmed the desks at Bromyard, Kington, Ledbury, Leominster and Ross on-Wye will be removed from the beginning of September and replaced with an intercom system, connecting the public to a "call-taker"

 

So what's the point in having these police stations? They spend all that money building the one in Newton Farm, which has hardly been manned since they day it opened, it's more like a glorified police car park.

 

Cost cutting gone a little too far in my opinion.

[stupidfrustration]

You are right Colin - cost cutting is getting very deep now and I'm sure it will get worse next year.

 

sooooo - would you like to pay more into the big pot to keep underused counters open?

If you do - can you please convince one or two other people to be happy to do so as well.

 

Cheers

[Colin James]

You are right Colin - cost cutting is getting very deep now and I'm sure it will get worse next year.

 

sooooo - would you like to pay more into the big pot to keep underused counters open?

If you do - can you please convince one or two other people to be happy to do so as well.

 

Cheers

 

Actually I think I pay enough into the system for these services.

[Ubique]

All they need is an office -be it in ASDA or other location , even a portocabin on a car park with the times when somebody will be there . Everybody , or 99% of the adult population has a mobile phone , all the Constabulary have to do is publicise the contact number so that like 999 it's recorded in our brains.

 

We do not need to go to Police Stations except to perhaps surrender firearms , make statements etc. so the reporting base for Police Ifficers at the start of their shift can be a room in the area they cover , no need for fancy buildings. Proved by the building the WM Police use with BT at the rear of Sainsburys.

 

They must start look towards the future........!

[twowheelsgood]

Proved by the building the WM Police use with BT at the rear of Sainsburys.

 

 

Which they must shortly move out of as the lease expires and won't be renewed. The Bath Street station is too small and no longer fit for purpose (despite the 'stop gap' £8m extension to the side) and they should have been moving into a new police station built as part of something called the Edgar Street Grid, but they didn't allow for the endless obfuscation up at Brockington Towers. Now that the asset strippers have left town with a bag of our cash and a 250 year lease on a hugely valuable town centre land, progressing the 'civic quarter' and other such worthy projects seem to have been quietly dropped by our Council. No surprise there.

[Ubique]

Twowheelgood - from what you say there is soon going to be some more of the Public money spent on more accommodation for the Constabulary somewhere else ?

[stupidfrustration]

Actually I think I pay enough into the system for these services.

You think you do.

I think I do too.

And I don't want to pay any more.

 

But I understand that this country has been borrowing money from other countries for far too long so we can cut the grass, keep unused police station front desks open and maybe one or two other things that this country does.

 

So there is a choice

1) keep borrowing money from other countries for as long as we can and keep unused police station front desks open.

2) charge us all more in taxation in some form

3) oh here's an idea - we could make some cuts and balance the budget of UK plc for the future - which will cause some discomfort - like er,,,,,, longer grass but eventually we as a country only spend what we have

 

I watched an old clip of Robin Williams doing stand up from the 80's the other day. The skit was about the states being $1 trillion in debt - how can that happen. because the yanks didn't get their house in order they now owe $12 trillion - that's a lot of money to owe and I don't want UK plc to get ourselves into that level of debt so we can keep unused police front desks open!

[K.Butt]

So we don't need smaller rural police stations then? Just give a copper his radio and the public their number sorted.. How is that serving the community? Sometimes just seeing a police station will make the more vulnerable feel just that little bit safer, but hey! Lets close them all down and hand out numbers for people to call, all in the name of cost cutting.    These services have and should be available, so the public are missing out because the last Gov apparently spent too much on other ****, sorry, I don't buy that, we are payig now because the tories want to be seen to get the national debt down and win votes in future elections.

 

They are all as bad as each other and it's the public that have to cough up everytime!

 

Start charging visitors and non UK residents a £10 visa to enter the UK that would help, it seems that we are all being penalised because of others mistakes!

[Colin James]

So we don't need smaller rural police stations then? Just give a copper his radio and the public their number sorted.. How is that serving the community? Sometimes just seeing a police station will make the more vulnerable feel just that little bit safer, but hey! Lets close them all down and hand out numbers for people to call, all in the name of cost cutting.    These services have and should be available, so the public are missing out because the last Gov apparently spent too much on other ****, sorry, I don't buy that, we are payig now because the tories want to be seen to get the national debt down and win votes in future elections.

 

They are all as bad as each other and it's the public that have to cough up everytime!

 

Start charging visitors and non UK residents a £10 visa to enter the UK that would help, it seems that we are all being penalised because of others mistakes!

 

Spot on and I like the visa idea too, other countries do it.

[George Armstrong]

So we don't need smaller rural police stations then? Just give a copper his radio and the public their number sorted.. How is that serving the community? Sometimes just seeing a police station will make the more vulnerable feel just that little bit safer, but hey! Lets close them all down and hand out numbers for people to call, all in the name of cost cutting.   

 

I get what you mean about the presence of Police Stations making people 'feel' safe, but bricks and mortar do not 'keep' people safe, police officers and PCSOs do. This thread is about Police Counters closing, and not Police Stations, anyway.

Colin saying that Newton Farm police station hardly being manned since it opened isn't quite right either, albeit the front counter was only open on reduced hours. Hardly any members of the public ever used it. My understanding is that the Safer Neighbourhood Team(s) - Southside Cops on Twitter - work from there everyday, as does the Safer Schools/Youth Inclusion and a Firearms Enquiry Officer. Megilleland has posted elsewhere the Belmont Safer Neighbourhood Team Newsletter - that explains what they do from that building.

StupidFrustration is right about the impending £29m cuts. To argue about what caused them historically or politically is a further debate, but we are where we are. What bit should the Police be cutting instead? This issue would be a most enlightening debate...

[Colin James]

 

 

I get what you mean about the presence of Police Stations making people 'feel' safe, but bricks and mortar do not 'keep' people safe, police officers and PCSOs do. This thread is about Police Counters closing, and not Police Stations, anyway.

 

Colin saying that Newton Farm police station hardly being manned since it opened isn't quite right either, albeit the front counter was only open on reduced hours. Hardly any members of the public ever used it. My understanding is that the Safer Neighbourhood Team(s) - Southside Cops on Twitter - work from there everyday, as does the Safer Schools/Youth Inclusion and a Firearms Enquiry Officer. Megilleland has posted elsewhere the Belmont Safer Neighbourhood Team Newsletter - that explains what they do from that building.

 

StupidFrustration is right about the impending £29m cuts. To argue about what caused them historically or politically is a further debate, but we are where we are. What bit should the Police be cutting instead? This issue would be a most enlightening debate...

 

 

It was hardly used because it was always closed or people were confused over which couple of hours it was open and manned from my understanding. Personally I think the government have cut back on the policing budget too much, it is not too bad if you live in a city but I feel for the smaller rural communities. No easy answer.

[Paul Jones]

What I find frustrating is that the government soon find a few million pound to send in aid to foreign lands and the click of the finger, lets start looking after our own country!!!

[stupidfrustration]

It was hardly used because it was always closed or people were confused over which couple of hours it was open and manned from my understanding. Personally I think the government have cut back on the policing budget too much, it is not too bad if you live in a city but I feel for the smaller rural communities. No easy answer.

I would suggest although I dont know - it was hardly used because people are not reporting lots of crime?

 

But I agree with you in not agreeing where all the cuts are taking place.

 

Children's care services -,disabled care services - schools transport - all of this is NEEDED by those who can't help themselves I n my opinion - that's not right to effect them - but the cynical part of me would say do these people vote?

Nope

But their families do!

 

That said - I do believe that some of the benefit cuts have been right.

I know a couple of people who couldn't get work, but once their benefits were cut or stopped they mysteriously found they could get a job. Strange that - so in some cases I think that's been a good thing!

[stupidfrustration]

What I find frustrating is that the government soon find a few million pound to send in aid to foreign lands and the click of the finger, lets start looking after our own country!!!

Paul - foreign aid is a difficult issue.

It's a lot more than sending aid by air to Africa!

It's normally to do with trade deals in that country that will help "us" in the long run.

 

Of course natural disasters should get help too - especially in poor countries where the people and the gvt can't do enough.

 

Interesting to note that Haiti is still a mess since the quake and aid there has stopped - and in some cases even money that was pledged to help by some countries never got there - but I guess Haiti doesn't have much - doesn't have anything to offer the rest of the world.

 

But - I agree with you - our foreign aid budget was the same as our police budget last year - and that doesn't feel right to me.

[Biomech]

I would suggest although I dont know - it was hardly used because people are not reporting lots of crime? 

 

 

It's next to Broxash Drive, they only needed to look out of the window :P

 

 

I was attacked and chased through town once, naturally I headed for the Police station - it was closed.

Now I just take things into my own hands.

[George Armstrong]

It's next to Broxash Drive, they only needed to look out of the window :P

I was attacked and chased through town once, naturally I headed for the Police station - it was closed.

Now I just take things into my own hands.

Again, my understanding only, but If you're talking about Bath St (main) Police Station, it's never closed - only the front counter. Ring the intercom beside the front door... That'll disturb their tea-break...

[twowheelsgood]

Twowheelgood - from what you say there is soon going to be some more of the Public money spent on more accommodation for the Constabulary somewhere else ?

 

Yes. There has been a long stated need for a new Police station in the City - Bath Street is no longer suitable. I read a report a little while ago, but can't find it just now - it was highly critical of the Council for messing them around over a long period. They still have the training field off Widemarsh St, and this is where they want it, but the Council have other ideas (but won't be pinned down on any of them). In Bromsgrove, they've built a shared premises with the Fire Brigade, but they've made it clear that won't happen here (guess they couldn't play nicely together), and this was also confirmed by the fire brigade rep at the recent consultation.

 

 

Bill Longmore - what is the point again, exactly?

[Biomech]

It was the main one yeah, the door was locked and the lights were off. I wasn't aware of any button/intercom until you mentioned it