Staffordshire Police is currently consulting on a proposal that could see the closure of Stone police station.
The force is currently looking at proposals for response teams to be briefed at fewer locations from April this year. As well as Stone, eight other stations across the county may also be affected by the proposals, as well as a number of smaller police posts.
Staffordshire Police say that these stations are either too expensive to maintain or are in the best location to provide the best service.
The force needs to save £20 million from its £190 million budget by March 2013 because of cutbacks in Government funding. In April, neighbourhood policing units will be scrapped and replaced with 10 teams based on Parliamentary constituencies.
If Stone police station is closed, officers will be briefed in Stafford.
In a joint statement issued at 5.30pm today, Mike Cunningham, Staffordshire Police Chief Constable, and David Pearsall, the chairman of Staffordshire Police Authority, say they are consulting with local partners and councillors “to find more suitable locations to work from – preferably in partnership – and in the heart of our communities”.
The statement goes on: “Although no decision has yet been made, this could see us sharing buildings with partner agencies and may see us in schools, church halls, libraries and shops.”
The statement does not say that members of the public are, or will be, consulted with about possible closures.
It states: “Staffordshire Police has not yet made any final decisions to close particular police stations in the county. We will not close any stations unless and until alternative bases are found within a particular locality. Whilst we face an unprecedented financial challenge we are looking at new ways of retaining our frontline officers to meet the needs of our communities.
“We have already streamlined our management and command structures so that we can continue to keep officers out on the streets. Our most valuable resource is our people and we are considering how we deploy our officers in the best possible way so that we can respond to community needs.
“It is also important to stress that we are committed to protecting the number of officers in neighbourhood roles and our local enquiry offices and for them to remain based at the very heart of the communities they serve.”
3 comments
Nick Tucker
Speaking as one who used to be at the sharp end of this job, I find this quite outrageous. Response teams will be briefed at Stafford, and will get ‘sucked into’ responding to incidents in Stafford. They will still be able to meet their targets by providing good response times in the far busier area of Stafford, whilst providing a second rate response service to the population of Stone. They will argue until they are blue in the face that this is not what is going to happen, but believe me, it WILL!
At the end of the day, this is just a means of meeting cutbacks and targets by cynical manipulation of the quality of service provided to us, the public, who are still paying a huge amount of our hard earned cash for an ever declining service.
I have reached the point where I feel quite embarrassed to say that I used to be part of this organisation.
Jamie Summerfield
Thanks for the comment Nick. The Police Authority are meeting today, so we may find out more later…
David
In total agreement.