18/09/2009

Future of Willesden Police Station

The proposed closure of the station is reported to be temporarily "on hold", but the Safer Neighbourhood Team will remain at their new base in Walm Lane.  The argument for closure has always been that the building is not fit for the purpose of modern policing and it is suspected that this will remain the strongest argument against it staying open rather than any political party led "campaign" that purports to  have "saved" the station from closure.


A new and more pressing argument may be generated by the statement from Deputy Commissioner, Tim Goodwin, that the Police need to save £48m from next year's budget.  He said the force was facing "considerable pressure" which could see "unfit" police stations and custody suites replaced with front counters.  If there's a stark choice, I would rather see officer numbers maintained rather than unfit buildings and suspect this would be a view shared by a number of Willesden residents.