Just to be clear, ‘front counter’ is police speak for the public part of the police station where people can report a crime, ask for information and so on.  It is not the custody desk!

You may have heard in the news that we (as in the Police Authority and the Constabulary) are considering whether or not to close some of our front counters and, at the same, we are looking at whether we really need all of our police stations or whether there is a better, and alternative, solution.

Closing premises is not something we do lightly and I can assure you that this is not a done deal.  Before we make any decisions we intend to find out what local people think about the plans and 1 July marked the start of an intensive twelve week consultation period.

The Authority works to make sure that policing in Lancashire is efficient and effective. We scrutinise the Constabulary on behalf of the public which is how we know that local people have a top quality policing service that is effective, responsive and provides support in the most appropriate way possible. We want it to stay that way.

Clearly, to do that, it needs an appropriate property estate that reflects the needs of local residents and is manageable within our current financial situation.

The Estates Review found that 81% of the total number of visitors across the county attended just 17 of the front counters. The remaining 21 counters handled only 19% of the overall footfall.  Therefore, the initial proposals are that the 21 front counters with the lowest footfall should be considered for closure. This does not necessarily mean that the whole station will close or that other policing services will be removed from them.

At the end of the day, there is no getting away from the fact that we need to find savings of £42M over the next four years so reviewing services, adapting to demand and making best use of all our resources is critical.

We recognise that there is no 'one size fits all' approach when it comes to contacting the police for whatever reason.  However, the success of neighbourhood policing combined with advances in new technology and changes in the ways information is provided has given people greater choice in how they want to contact the police.

Take neighbourhood policing for example, the Police Authority has, through the precept paid by Lancashire's public, been able to increase investment into this area. This increased visibility and access to officers at a very local level means the Constabulary rely less on the public going to them through police stations.

That approach coupled with the Constabulary extending their reach into the community by operating out of almost 200 different bases demonstrates just what strides have been made to make policing more accessible.

The use of new technology is another area where, by increasing access to information on our websites and using social media networks, we are giving the public additional opportunities to access services differently and this will continue as technology moves forward.

However, we know that local police stations are important and I want to emphasise that today is the start of meaningful consultation with the public about the proposed changes and the future vision of delivering policing in Lancashire.

I really do urge you to get involved and help us develop a policing service meets your needs, that is fit for purpose and financially viable. Tell us how you would prefer to have access to police services and where you think we should focus our money. 

To get involved and give your views please visit http://www.getintheloop.co.uk/surveys
 
You can also:

• Visit our discussion board at http://www.Facebook.com/LancsLOOP, and click the 'like' button on our Facebook page to leave a comment
• Email your views to LPA.Information@lancashire.gov.uk
• Send us a tweet @LancsPA and @LancsLoop