999 meeting on the closure of Sydenham Police Station

[Chris Best]

The public meeting with the police to discuss the proposed changes in Lewisham is on Monday 28th January starting at 6pm in the town hall at Catford. The MOPAC Police and Crime report can be found at: http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/poli...engagement and sets out the proposals to have one 24 hour police station in the borough - changes the hours of opening at Catford to daytime and closes Sydenham.

We need to know more about the operation of our local SNT - will there be a local base in the area when Sydenham closes? Will the team be based in Catford - remember there is no direct bus route to Bromley Road. So will shift be spent travelling between Catford and Sydenham?

Please find time to show your support for this local service - register on the following weblink: http://www.london.gov.uk/events/policing...urce=mopac to attend the meeting.

Give your views using the online questionnaire to give your views - http://www.smart-survey.co.uk/v.asp?i=67232epffs

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[dickp]

If I was being a trouble maker (perish the thought) I would love to know:

Annual station usage by members of the public;
For comparison, annual usage by other means - phone, internet, etc

Basically, are police stations largely redundant as points of contact?

Cost per in-person enquiry at station;
For comparison, cost per enquiry by other means - phone, internet, etc

Essentially, do police stations offer value for money, in terms of acting as a point of contact?

Annual cost of maintaining wholly-owned stations;
Estimated commercial value of station property, if sold today.
Annual estimated cost of renting alternative venues - front desk, custody suits, and car lots.

Basically, how money could be saved / generated by renting, as opposed to owning police facilities?

Any stats out there? It's always a good idea to have an evidence-based debate, after all....

[dantheman]

unfortunately no point in attending this meeting as per usual already a foregone conclusion. be interesting to know what will become of the building though.

[Chris Best]

Yes lots of questions that is why it is important to attend the consultation meeting this evening - 6pm Town Hall in Catford. Will there be a secure local base for our SNT?

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[Eagle]

I suggest all councillors on the planning committee who vote should have to live 2 weeks in 4 in the bail hostel.

They inflict these criminals in vast numbers on an area but do not expect they live anywhere near.

It is a complete disgrace.

[dickp]

Ah, here we go.

According to "Reform", Lewisham police stations recieve an average of 2.05 visits per hour.

http://www.reform.co.uk/content/17345/r ... on_visits_

It's not clear from the data whether that's 2.05 visits per police station per hour, or 2.05 visits per hour for the whole of Lewisham - which has five police stations in total. If it's the latter, then that means that Sydenham Police Station takes around an average of two hours to register a single visit. But even 2.05 visits per hour doesn't exactly seem to represent great value for money, given the size of the Sydenham Police station site - and, presumeably, its fairly hefty running costs.

That pretty much chimes with my own experience of dealing with police. You call them on the phone, and they come round to your property. You never set foot in their actual workplace.

So, what matters most, in times of limited budgets - real estate portfolios, or service levels?

No brainer,innit? Sell 'em.

[Tim Lund]

I agree, Dickp, although it would be worth having figures for what the running costs were, and what annual rent could be got for the building, and express that in terms of police jobs added / saved. The equation less expensive property = more bobbies on the street should be convincing.

My only experience of Sydenham Police station was not encouraging either - I'd reported my bicycle stolen, and given a reasonably good description of it - colour, that it had drop handle-bars - so I was hopeful when I got a call to see if it was one they had recovered. It seemed to take forever to get to see it, having presented myself at the front desk, but what I was shown was nothing like what I'd described. I came away thinking that wasting police time was something they were able to do all on their own.

[Tim Lund]

Interesting presentation from Chief Inspector Stuart Bell at the FH Assembly last night. He explained very persuasively how the proposed changes to neighbourhood policing would be an improvement on the current model, in which having a sergeant, two PCs and three PCSOs allocated to a ward, made it harder for resources to redeployed at times when they could help elsewhere, and left wards with no coverage when officers were on - well deserved - holidays. Under the new proposals there are to be three clusters of ward, and a greater general flexibility. His comments struck me as illustrating perfectly the problems of localism when focused on too small an area - it inevitably brings with it inefficiencies, and those who identify with larger 'localities' such as London (IHMO most people in London) rather than particular wards, or even London Boroughs.

He also explained about the trade-off between selling off police stations and cutting staff, and that Sydenham Police station was likely to go because of its high maintenance costs. It would be good if someone could put a number to this, and express it in terms of police officers' jobs saved.