London set to see number of police stations reduced from 149 in 2010 to just 32 by 2020; we urge readers to support a petition to stop this
In 2010, London had 149 police stations; there are now just 73 and if Conservative plans go ahead there’ll be just 32 – or one per borough, except for Westminster – by 2020.
Theresa May as Home Secretary focused on flogging off places where the public could report crime and now as Prime Minister, her government is determined to remove community assets in favour of encouraging people to report crime online, to the 101 telephone number and in cafés and retail shops.
Finding a bobby on the beat, another suggested alternative, is nigh on impossible in many areas and here we urge readers to sign the Kensington Society’s petition to save Notting Hill Police Station. Their ‘Police Campaign’ is a revelation and makes for utterly shocking reading. Shame on our government for not providing the resources to properly protect its citizens.
This is beyond dangerous.
I think this a fantastic idea and real progress towards helping my business of pickpocketing, robbing banks, and tunnelling into safe deposits. I would really like to see even fewer copshops. I suggest one for the whole of London. Well done Mrs May.
I don’t understand what the fuss is all about. It’s 2017, not 1839 when the Bow Street Runners were disbanded and incorporated into the Metropolitan Police. Throughout the history of policing, advances in technology have always resulted in the demise of redundant, arcane, and inefficient policing strategies. The Panda Car, the Bobby on a Bicycle, the whistle, and the Tardis (Police Box) are but a few icons of policing that have had their time. Police stations are just another example. The resultant freeing up of desk-bound police officers in stations will mean more police officers on the streets.
Some may bemoan the lack of a convenient place for pesky busybodies to go and bother overworked police officers with their ‘reports’ of ‘suspicious’ activities of the neighbors, but the reality is that ‘there’s an App for that.’ Expect an App to replace crime reporting at the old station, and use a Kurig machine in place of the milky, lukewarm, over-sweetened cuppa char and a tut-tutting, near retirement age, sympathetic copper.
Let’s face it, the vast majority of what used to be classified as crime, is no longer investigated anyway; burglary, car theft, and shoplifting can all now be conveniently reported by snapping a few photos on your smartphone and sending them to the police computer together with an account of your losses.
The benefits of reducing the number of police stations, and therefore the number of police officers who have to deal with the complaints of pesky citizens reporting ‘crimes’ and wasting the valuable time of the Police is obvious. There will be a large reduction in the crime statistics so the politicians can hail their achievements and ‘crime,’ which currently disproportionately impacts minority communities, will go away so the progressives should be delighted. They can relax safe in the knowledge that their home and car security systems can automatically interface with the 999 App when their homes are invaded and their cars are stolen or broken into, so they don’t need to be bothered reporting crime and spend their valuable time protesting the oppression of foreign terrorists.
It’s time to get with the new age of policing. Or lack thereof.