Police station front desk scheme enters third phase
Further desks are set to reopen across Devon and Cornwall
The latest phase in Devon and Cornwall’s police station front desk reopening project is underway.
Funding was announced earlier this year to open a further four front offices in the region over the next financial year, bringing the total number to 27.
Alison Hernandez, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, is embarking on a tour of the stations that are set to reopen next.
Speaking of the project’s potential impact, Hernandez said: “Having these front desks open by next summer in popular tourist locations like Looe and Kingsbridge will be especially helpful during the summer months when crime levels in Devon and Cornwall increase by around 10%.”
She will visit stations in Looe, Devonport, Okehampton, Honiton, Ilfracombe and Kingsbridge which are all due to be reopened in the next financial year.
Once operational, these desks will enable the public to report crime and seek advice and support, face to face with newly recruited Police enquiry officers, trained to respond to non-emergencies.
Chief Constable Will Kerr says the reopening project is a positive step for enabling communication between the police and the community: “These front-offices offer a reassuring presence in local communities, as well as being points of access for potentially vulnerable victims who prefer that face to face contact.”
Police and Crime Commissioner Hernandez says data suggests that the front desks already reopened have been well used by the public: “Footfall recorded in the first few months of the last six front desks reopened in Tiverton, Newton Abbot, Truro, Penzance, Bude and Falmouth showed us that at least 2,600 members of the public used this service.”