'Bizarre' police station opening times are 'best for Darwen'

1:19pm Tuesday 9th October 2012 in News

POLICE chiefs told Darwen councillors that changes to opening times at the police station were the ‘best for the town’.

The revised opening times came into force on October 1, with the enquiry desk now closed on Sundays and Mondays. From Tuesday to Saturday it opens 10am to 2pm and 3pm to 6pm.

Sunnyhurst Coun Dave Smith had said the new times were ‘bizarre’, but officers attended a meeting of the town council to explain their decision.

Chief Insp Julian Platt and Insp Abid Khan told councillors the cutting of hours was the result of a countywide exercise to save £42million over eight years.

Despite suggestions from councillors, the pair said there was no room for change.

Coun Smith said the new times didn’t make sense, adding: “I don’t know why they have picked those hours.

“In Darwen, Tuesday has always been half-day closing and the library is closed as well.

“It would make more sense to close it on Tuesday. And why is there a break between 2pm and 3pm? They are not memorable hours for the public.”

Other Sunnyhurst councillors also expressed concerns.

Coun Pete Hollings said: “It was disappointing to hear of the changes, especially as just weeks before we had met with Abid Khan and he didn’t mention the closures.”

Coun Brian Taylor said: “The police being there is a reassurance to the public who want to be able to see them.”

Comments(11)

accy lad and proud says...
1:55pm Tue 9 Oct 12

Crazy situation but it will be ok ! You can now batter your own burglar ! It's Policing DIY. Baseball bats at the ready folkes !!!!!

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YNWAJFT96 says...
2:49pm Tue 9 Oct 12

Well we all know the criminals are busy socialising on Sundays and nursing hangovers on Mondays so it makes perfect sense! I suspect the closing time between 2pm and 3pm is to allow the police to get home to Blackburn and back for their lunch (Traffic delays taken into account!)

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CapitaBackHander says...
5:26pm Tue 9 Oct 12

In future it will be said people did not attend the station so that is why it is shutting!

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foxy lass says...
5:41pm Tue 9 Oct 12

How many days is blackburn whitebirk station close? None! Not a suprise though. People that live in blackburn and have a car are ok. A station like darwen where you can walk into, that is decided as a part timer. The police aren't even consulting now, they made the decision and councillors are just told after the fact.

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DEO VOLENTE says...
6:40pm Tue 9 Oct 12

Yes this is"Best for Darwen" Oh and dont forget that the moon is made of green cheese! What an utter load of nonsense! I thought that they had only lowered the height restrictions in the poliice force, but it appears that the IQ level has also been lowered considerablyas well!

We deserve better, we really do! Will we get it? Of course not.

Deus Vobiscum

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Excluded again says...
9:13pm Tue 9 Oct 12

If you take £42 million out of the police service budget, you lose some police service. It really is that simple.

The police are trying to make the best of a bad job imposed on them by the government. If the police had really thought this was best for Darwen, they would have done it years ago. Instead they have only done this when they have been forced to do so by cuts to their budget.

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Common_Sense1 says...
1:44am Wed 10 Oct 12

What's the issue here? The station will remain open 24 hours a day for Police Officers to use as and when they require. The only difference is that the civilian person at the front desk will only be there at certain times. If people know the opening times they can pop in when it's open and if its more urgent than that then call the police. There is no point being open on a Sunday when the shops are shut and you'd have to make a special trip out to go to the station. The same is true that not many people would pop in to a station at 9am so why pay someone to staff the front desk. This seems like a sensible way to save money to me!

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Twicki1 says...
4:30pm Wed 10 Oct 12

You can ring them but may take an hour or two for them to come out, we had a £22,000 excavator stolen from site, two residents rang the police while it was happening and it took them an hour and a half to even turn up. The closing of a station is the least of the problems our so called police force have, maybe use all the money made from harassing motorists to fund the extra police.

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bril67 says...
9:16am Thu 11 Oct 12

just stop messing about and just shut it and sell the land to twin valleys for a car park to the building next door ,whiich is probably going to happen in the future anyway

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bril67 says...
9:20am Thu 11 Oct 12

what was the point of knocking down some old out buildings at the back of the police station a few months and making a larger car park could that money not have been spent better .perhaps on a police persons wage

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Darwen Malc says...
6:23pm Sat 13 Oct 12

Could someone please enlighten me as to how closing the front desk, manned by a civilian, on certain under used days, will affect the day to day policing of the town and make any one, or any area, more vulnerable? Apart from general enquiries, of which many, if not all, could be made by phone, I don't see the problem. And after all, if you witness a burgalry in progress, or a really bad accident, what are you going to do, saunter down to the police station to report it? No, didn't think so. If Lancashire Constabulary have to make cuts, then I'd rather they cut things like this if it lessens the severity of any cuts that they make on front line services.

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