On the day that the front desk at Barnet Police Station is due to close for the last time, Theresa Villiers MP has called on the Mayor of London to reverse his decision to shut down the station and sell off the building.
Ms Villiers said: “I am very concerned that the front desk is closing at Barnet Police Station today. This is a decision taken by the Labour Mayor of London. The previous mayor considered plans from the Met to close the police station and rejected them. The current Mayor has £0.6 billion in reserves and the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime has £298 million of revenue reserves. Using just a fraction of this could save Barnet Police Station from closure. Labour should reverse their decision to shut the station and the other police team centres in the Chipping Barnet constituency.”
“Unfortunately this is just the first stage of the closures being implemented by the Mayor. He plans to shut the whole station, rather than just the front desk, and also close all but one of the offices around the constituency where ward police teams are based.”
“The Mayor is expecting officers to do their paperwork and meetings in public places using tablet computers. These have yet to be given to officers in Barnet. It’s also the case that some conversations and paperwork are too sensitive for a café or other public place. So the result of closing the police station and so many safer neighbourhood team centres is that the police in Barnet will retreat to Colindale and will be far less present and far less visible in the north and east of the borough.”
“The Labour Mayor is short-changing residents in Barnet. He gives us fewer police per head than any other borough in London. He should give us a fairer share of police resources in the capital.”
The news of the closure of the front desk at Barnet Police Station was revealed to the public when a notice was posted on the building this morning.