87% of Police stations do not open all the time

[Gromit]

Only 1 in 8 police stations are open to the public 24 hours a day. Is it reasonable for the police stations to keep normal shop/business hours?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml =/news/2007/01/08/npolice08.xml

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml? xml=/opinion/2007/01/08/dl0802.xml

[youngmafbog]

Its fine - so long as the criminals also agree to keep these hours !

[jake-the-peg]

When did you last need to walk into a police station at 3 in the morning?

If an issue isn't worthy of a 999 call surely it can wait to the morning?

[youngmafbog]

Dial 999, now there's a laugh.

[jake-the-peg]

You haven't answered the question I notice!

Exactly why would you need to go to a police station in the middle of the night rather than use the phone?

[IggyB]

and the closed police station do have a phone on the side of them to call 999 if you happen to be passing by and need them... i would rather they were shut and more police were then able to be about in town or even just emplyed than if they kept buildings open for no reason all night long

[youngmafbog]

You are correct, I didn't and to answer your question I personally wouldn't. I have only been in a police station at 3am via the back door.

However with my experience of dialling 999 there could well be the need to actually go down and physically fetch a copper.

[jake-the-peg]

So no problem with the front desk keeping office hours after all then.

Especially if the resources can be concentrated on sorting out those who need to be dragged in through the back :c)

[TheGopher]

Lost my wallet and keys recently and tried to phone the local police to see if they had been handed in. Police station was shut at 4.30pm. Call Centre based 30 miles away said as it was non urgent I would have to wait and call the next day. However, if they had been found no-one could have handed them in anyway as the police station was closed.

Just a personal situation which illustrates that local police stations provided a vital service for the community in all sorts of ways.

I'm an old timer but the local police stations also provided a open hour refuge for those in trouble - call centres and phones cannot compete.

[zimzam]

My local station is open 9-5 Monday to Friday. They shut for lunch between noon and 1pm. I recently went to report an offence and I arrived at 12.55 and was asked to return at 1pm because they were about to have their lunch.

[TheGopher]

I should have said 'an open all hours refuge'. (Thanks for the stars, by the way!)

[Le Chat]

It is called The Police Service, not The Police Shop Hours only Service. In fact, there are not even many shops that are 'shop hours' as it is considered that a larger range of hours is more customer friendly ....I don't even know of any shops who close for lunch anymore!!
In fact the only places I know that close for lunch and are 9-5 are my Doctors, our police station and my bank! That certainly tells me something about customer service!

[Grunty]

If a police station is open at all, there will normally be only one person in it. That person will not be a police officer, and will therefore be entitled to lunch breaks among other benefits. It is all a question of money. Police officers are expensive and need to be used where they can be most effective. As a taxpayer, I do not want the station to be kept open at night in case someone loses his keys.

[TheGopher]

My own loss of wallet and keys was just quoted as an example. However, the loss of vital bank cards and driving licence was very important to me and my first thought was to report the items missing and check whether they had been handed in. Incidentally, what would you do if you found a distressed child or elderly person alone and frightened wandering in the street.? I would immediately think to accompany them to the local police station who could take the necessary action. What else can you do?

What I am trying to illustrate was that the police offered a 'community service'. It gave people confidence that there would always be someone, somewhere on hand to help with a multitutde of things too numerous to mention - not always involved with major crime, but all the same important things that only the police service offered. By taking this away and not offering anything in replacement the community has lost a vital service. I am afraid my conidence in the police service has declined.

Where are all the trouble makers taken these days if police stations are closed? Are they transported to the local police headquarters, perhaps thirty miles away or even more?- and surely, if redundant cells in closed police stations are being used for prisoners because of the lack of room in prisons, police officers will have to be employed there.

I pay taxes too and would like to see the benefit of them. At the moment the police service is almost non existent in the area I live.