Fed backs MP's calls to end police station closures

12 July 2023

West Midlands Police Federation chair Rich Cooke has backed the comments of a former cabinet minister who warned the closure of police stations risked “hollowing out” town ­centres and damaging high streets.

Theresa Villiers said “a police officer sitting in Starbucks with an iPad” should not be seen as a substitute for a “functioning police station”.

The former Northern Ireland Secretary also said it would be a mistake to press on with closures at a time when some forces have been rocked by scandals and confidence in policing was low.

She told the Commons: “The presence of police stations is an important part of keeping policing close to communities.

“If we shut them down or retreat into a handful of buildings, we make it more difficult to deliver genuine community policing.”

Ms Villiers said the sense of confidence that the presence of a police station gave people had been entirely lost in areas where they had been closed down.

And she was dismissive of the idea that policing could be effectively carried out from a variety of different settings.

She said: “The suggestion remains that a new base for police officers could be in a corner of a library or the backroom of a high street shop, but providing a base for police officers is not a straightforward matter.”

Theresa Villiers said closing police stations was damaging communities

She continued: “Officers have access to highly sensitive personal data and they hold evidence from cases for which it is vital that they keep rigorous and reliable records of custody. 

“Moreover, some police equipment is potentially harmful, such as tasers, and it would be dangerous if this kind of kit fell into the wrong hands. 

“Special storage facilities would need to be built in new alternative accommodation. They could not just set up a few lockers in a local library.

“Frankly, it is wholly unrealistic to expect a police officer sitting in Starbucks with an iPad to be an adequate substitute for a functioning police station.”

Rich, a long-standing and vocal critic of police station closures, said Ms Villiers’ appraisal of the situation was “absolutely spot on”.

He said: “The closure of police stations across our region has had a huge impact on community policing.

“Police stations have always been an important part of our social fabric but we have retreated out of so many areas over the last 10 years and we are now living with the consequences.

“The idea that police officers can be out all day without a base to return to is totally wrong. 

“The shortage of stations means officers are racing from job to job and don’t have time to stop in the communities to see what’s going on.

“I find it astonishing that we no longer have a police station in every town and city in the West Midlands.

“But the damage has been done so we have to make sure the ones we have are retained and not sold off. We can't afford to lose any more stations.”