21st century policing?
The Police Authority met today to discuss their “Estates Transformation Strategy”. To you and me that probably means closure of police stations. The press have highlighted 4 potential sites for closure - Crosshills, Settle, Ripon, and Knaresborough and it was confirmed last night at Kildwick Parish Meeting by a local Police Inspector. The worrying aspect of this latest development is the linking of it to the review of workforce structures also taking place.
Last year our area suffered through the net loss of 2 officers after a restructure. It seems if the crime statistics point to the marshaling of resources towards Harrogate and york we will suffer again. Therein lies the problem. Reported crime may be down but unreported crime will not have dropped and probably risen. If our local station closes how much harder will it be for us to report incidents of crime(an easy question to answer for those who have tried to wrestle with police phone system), I anticipate many will give up trying.
The morale of our officers is low, Settle officers living in police houses have been given notice of eviction. Whilst I recognise the need for the police to review all aspects of its service I wonder what financial imperative could be behind this. I hope that the multi million £ cost of Harrogates “super station” will not influence the decision, especially in light of the potentially large capital receipt from the sale of 4 pieces of prime real estate.
It seems our community is about to take another hit. First a reduction in our bus service, then post offices and now our police stations are about to go the same way. Surely enough is enough. We deserve as much of a police service as urban areas - crime whatever the perceived level of severity - has a long lasting affect on the victim.
The Police Authority states the following as objectives -
Promoting safer neighbourhoods through - Increasing levels of public satisfaction with the police service
Reducing volume crime
Reducing antisocial behaviour
Promoting safer roads – reducing the number of casualties through road traffic accidents.
Will the closure of our local stations really help them to achieve those objectives? At Crosshills there is talk of a shop front operation manned by civilian staff to field questions (possibly on Main Street).
Is this really a solution to provide a 21st century police force to deal with the demands of our communities?
There will be a public consultation on these issues - make sure your views are known.
have your say
