Traditional blue police lamp installed in Rutland
The idea behind the lamp is to ‘increase confidence and trust in local policing’
Last updated 27th Feb 2024
A traditional blue lamp has been installed at a police beat office in Rutland – despite criticism that it’s not a full-time station.
The idea behind the lamp outside Uppingham Town Hall in High Street East is to ‘increase confidence and trust in local policing’ by harking back to a time when officers were more visible.
Uppingham mayor Liz Clarke, deputy mayor Dave Ainsley, and police and crime commissioner for Rutland and Leicestershire Rupert Matthews (Con) attended the installation on Thursday, February 22.
Coun Clarke said: “I think that rather than a throwback to the past, this blue lamp represents a throw-forward to the future of community policing.
“This represents a whole new way of local policing, and our beat office and beat officers have been very successful here in Uppingham.
“People in rural locations want a visible police presence, and this blue lamp is just the latest in a series of ways in which a community presence can be genuinely felt.
“Our beat officers are very much noticed in the town. They talk to people on the streets, in the park, pop into local shops, and the residents of Uppingham have told me they really appreciate that.”
But not everyone agrees. After plans for the lamp were announced earlier this year, Uppingham resident Dan Marshall, 45, pointed out Uppingham beat office is a place used for occasional admin by officers, and is not a fully staffed police station.
Another resident was concerned someone might seek help at the police station at night, and described the lamp as ‘a gimmick’. Others were more positive, suggesting the lamp was ‘reassuring’ and that its presence might deter criminals.
Coun Ainsley said Uppingham has had a significant drop in anti-social behaviour since gaining a beat officer. He said people were used to visiting the old Uppingham police station before it closed, and since then the town council has been proactive by bringing a beat office into a building ‘at the heart of the community’.
Mr Matthews said: “Across Rutland and Leicestershire we have about 70 police offices that are not open continuously to the public, so we are going around them and asking if they could be open to the public again.
“We started here in Uppingham with the police beat office at the end of 2022. We’ve identified a further three which will soon be re-opened to the public, and over the next 18 months we will be looking at all 70 of them.”
The installation costs of the lamps will be met from each commissioner’s annual budget, while the cost of the lamps themselves is part of the national policing budget.
Access to the police beat office in Uppingham is by appointment. The police station in Station Road, Oakham is open 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday. It also has a new blue lamp.
The original Mercia lanterns first appeared outside London police stations in 1861.