Why Police Stations are Important
Gwent Police have announced that virtually all the police stations in the Caerphilly Borough will be closed to the public from July.
As a direct consequence of the Con-Dem Government, an essential umbilical cord between the public and the Police is in danger of being cut. Without any prior consultation with the Police Authority, elected representatives or, most importantly, members of the public, the Chief Constable of Gwent Police has decided that the whole of the Caerphilly Borough will have only one Police Station open to the public on a part-time basis – this will be Blackwood.
From July, Bedwas, Caerphilly, Ystrad Mynach, Bargoed, Rhymney and Risca Police Stations will be turned into ‘bunkers’, if they are kept open at all. By this I mean that our Police Station will become Police outposts which will have no physical relationship with the communities they serve. From now on, the Chief Constable says, contact with the Police must not be on a ‘face-to-face’ basis but only via a telephone, text, email or perhaps Twitter.
As a former Deputy Minister for Digital Inclusion, I would be the last person to claim that digital technology does not have an increasingly important role to play in the delivery of effective public services, especially policing. But, I strongly object to the suggestion that somehow new technology can replace human contact. It is especially important for elderly and disadvantaged people to feel that they can contact Police Officers relatively easily through traditional means. Also, it is important to remember that effective policing is about visual presence and reassurance as well as speed of response.
It saddens me greatly that after ten years of seeing policing improve and become more community orientated, we now have a situation where the Chief Constable of Gwent believes that it is ‘pointless’ to listen to local communities. The key to effective policing must be a strong relationship between the police and the people. If the Chief Constable holds in disdain the views of the people she is supposed to serve, my concern is that the public’s confidence in the Police will diminish. I hope that our Chief Constable will realise this before it is too late.
Wayne David
MP for Caerphilly
The issue over police closures in Caerphilly is a hot topic on the doorstep and let there be no mistake about it, people are up in arms. I fear the UK Governments swingeing cuts to police budgets will have negative consequences on the people of this borough as the public will lose the vital face to face contact with police officers.
I can point to a perfect example of this by sharing an experience I had the other week. When walking around Caerphilly Castle I happened to stumble across a large piece of paper which I assumed was discarded as rubbish. On closer inspection it became clear that it was someone's birth certificate. I made the short trip to the police station to hand in the birth certificate in the hope the police could trace the individual concerned and return it back to him. A question now needs to be asked how this would have been dealt with via e – mail or Twitter?? The answer I suggest would be that it would have taken a lot longer to be dealt with with a less chance of it being returned safely to its owner.
Broadly speaking I hold the view that these huge cuts to public expenditure are having a catastrophic impact on our public services. The cuts are too deep and too fast and are putting services and people at risk.
I think Wayne has really hit the nail on the head here. What is the primary purpose of a Police Force if not to protect and reassure residents? Elderly residents often feel more comfortable if they know that there is a police officer within easy reach of them, and if most of the police stations in the Caerphilly Borough are closed then many older people will feel that they have nowhere to go to report crime or to protect them. Many older residents I have spoken to are not users of the internet and may find it difficult to use this medium to contact the police, if not impossible.
The wider implications of this shortsighted policy is that the Tories have revealed themselves to be the party of law but no order. They clearly feel that you can make laws but require no one to enforce them. I spoke to a police officer a few weeks ago who said that things in police force where as bad as they were in the 1970's, in terms of morale, pay and conditions. It says something when a senior ACPO officer comes to talk to a Welsh Labour party conference as happened a few months ago, rather than speak to the Tories. Oh wait no the Tories cancelled theirs! On a serious note though the Police perhaps are beginning to no longer see the Tories as their friends in government as has traditionally been the case. I say that if the police do decide that they are better off with a Labour party as the natural party of law and order then I welcome them wholeheartedly. Police are public servants who do a very difficult job like Nurses, Teachers, Soldiers, Social Workers, Doctors etc, and the Tories are now clearly the party who oppose decent public services no matter what their traditional loyalties may have been to the police. The fact that this tiresome, incompetence and shoddy Tory government is engaging in a pointless reorganisation of the Serious Organised Crime Agency, and is hellbent on privatising the Forensic Science Service, widely regarded as one of the best of its kind in the world, goes to show how little the Tories and their partners in crime the Literal Dumbocrats care about the sound administration of a viable criminal justice system.
Tories and Liberals both will pay a hefty price for their errors at the polls in May.
It is once again that MP Wayne David comes to the newspaper and in his blog sensationalises the Gwent Police's plans to 'close police stations'.
As one who was at the service delivery and full meetings of the Police Authority I noted that Mr David was again conspicuous by his absence so therefore he must have got at best an abbreviated update of the meeting and its discussions but certainly the meetings were passed second hand to him.
What is obvious is that Mr David is a man of problems not solutions.
With Government restrictions and cuts EVERY facet of policing, the NHS, the Ambulance Service, the Fire Brigade and the Civil Service has to face up to changes …. not all for the good … but all unavoidable.
What we therefore need Mr David is an alternate strategy … which neither you nor any member of the Labour party up to and including Mr Miliband … has seen fit to put forward. Collectively you are just happy to avoid the meeting then criticise. Their win-win situation. If it goes wrong then they can quickly shout 'I told you so'. If it subsequently is shown to the right decision then they can ignore it because by then his 'focus' will be on unjustifiably criticising something else.
Just for once Mr David can I ask you and the Labour party to put forward an alternate strategy.
I challenge you this was I have such an alternate strategy that is radical but eminently feasible.
It is not rocket science and has, in the past, been implemented to great success in the police.
I can get it to work, once elected as Gwent's Police and Crime Commissioner, and I sincerely believe that the Gwent ACPO team could be brought on board with it.
The communities of Caerphilly are waiting … I think .. but not holding their breath
I also have a similar experience to James of handing in an i.phone I found in the street last Tuesday, on this occasion I was able to hand it in at the Caerphilly Police Office in Market Street. I presume it has been returned to the rightful owner as it had been reported lost a few days before I found it.
This will not be possible under the closure plans.
Secondly, Chris4GwentPCC ( Chris for Police Commissioner I presume?) once again demonstrates why he should not become our Police Commissioner in November, he would Close Police Stations, and it appears from his comments, he supports the current Gwent Police Authority reasons for taking these appalling decisions, his support for the current processes in making these decisions, without any meaningful consultation with the public negates the need for the position he aspires too of Police commissioner.
OK Chris. I'm waiting to hear your grand plan? What is it?
Hmmm still nothing from Chris……….
Silence really is golden and tells a real tale.
Gareth and Trefor.
Sorry about the delay but I have just returned to the Observer and its topic. (The Observer does not notify me when someone comments on my comment or asks for a reply to something I have stated)
I would love to give you my grand plan but just remember it was I, the independent candidate for your Police and Crime Commissioner, who challenged Mr David I and have not had a letter or e-mail from him … and yes he does know my address's. And as I stated he has not written any reply to my comment and he writes every week for this newspaper!
I have noted your comments but find them a tad unfair … as you do know know the basis of my plan.
My viable plan is to keep open police stations throughout Caerphilly and Gwent … but even though I hate it … I have to maintain my plan to myself until Mr David and his cohorts decide to talk to me.
I will wait until after the May 5th elections and then if Mr David and the Labour Party do not come forward I will put my full plan on my website http://www.chris4gwentpcc.co.uk