Opening station front desks a win-win for public and police
Police station front desks work – so help me decide which to open next, asks Devon and Cornwall’s Police and Crime Commissioner
ACOUPLE of weeks ago, a women attended a Devon police station to report that she was being stalked and harassed.
She said she had only decided to report the case because she had noticed that the station was open once again and she had not felt like discussing her problem on the phone.
It is a decade since stalking was made illegal with specific legislation, yet campaigners such as the Suzy Lamplugh Trust are concerned that police do not always recognise the worrying behaviours that exhibit themselves as stalking. In this case, the woman was met with a friendly and professional police enquiry officer, who was able to talk her through the crime reporting process and offer victim support services.
The station front desk was one of several that had been selected by the chief constable and me to be reopened after several years of closure.
In the couple of weeks it has been reopened, assaults and vandalism have been reported directly to the force at this station and a vulnerable, confused and lost elderly man offered refuge while his family was contacted by the officers.
I know that on a balance sheet, when times are tough, it is cheaper for police forces to deal with all public enquiries via phone and email. And while most reporting will continue to be made this way, I strongly believe that the police station has an important role in building safer, more resilient and connected communities.
The police force is not a business, so how can we put a value on the service provided to that stalking victim or the gentleman found wandering and confused in the town?
That is why I have made the funds available to open front desks in Bude, Newquay, Truro, Penzance, Falmouth, Newton Abbot and Tiverton so far, and am committed to funding the reopening of more front desks in the next financial year.
Last Friday, I told the police and crime panel – a group of councillors who come together to scrutinise my decision making – that I was launching a survey to enable the public to influence the decisions on which station front desks come next.
The survey had only opened that morning, but by the end of the day hundreds of people had already taken a few minutes to tell me which of dozens of potential locations they thought we should invest in.
Interestingly, when asked what they would use the stations for, two thirds said they would use it to ‘offer information to police about what is going on in their community’ and more than a half ‘to meet their neighbourhood policing team’.
This tells me there is a real desire to engage with the force at a neighbourhood level, and an opportunity for the force to find out more about offending, vulnerability and issues that they should be dealing with before a crime is committed.
When not dealing with people face-to-face, police enquiry efficers are able to deal with non-emergency email contacts, reducing pressure on the force’s 101 service and adding resilience to an area of the force we know is under intense pressure.
There will be other factors to consider when final decisions are made. These are:
Whether a location is financially and practically viable (ie would costs of reopening be reasonable and the project delivered within six months)
What the impact on the station would be (such as having to relocate a policing team)
The station’s geographic location and distance to next nearest open front desk
The population size of the local resident population and anticipated seasonal increases
The survey on which station front desks open next can be completed by visiting www.devonandcornwallpcc.gov.uk and is open until midnight on January 2, 2023.
For details of addresses and opening hours of the 15 police front desks already open in Devon and Cornwall visit www.devon-cornwall.police. uk/contact/police-enquiry-offices/