HELP desks at Stockton Heath and Penketh police stations have closed as part of a re-organisation of the ways the public can contact the police across Cheshire.
But police stress that police stations are not being closed and that police officers and PCSOs will remain very much at the heart of local communities.
They claim the changes will result in improvements in the service as the police are now able to boost resources in the force control room.
The shift is being made in response to the changing demands of how residents prefer to get in touch with the police. The vast majority prefer the convenience of reporting incidents through the non-emergency 101 phone number, or via the police website, with victims of crime now being given direct contact details for officers dealing with their incident for updates.
Police say the changes will mean they can respond more quickly and provide a better service to the public.
A six-week public consultation exercise was conducted earlier this year before the changes were approved.
But the help desk at Warrington Police Station will remain open from 8am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday – the times the public have chosen to use them in recent years.
In addition, there will be a contact point telephone on the outside of each police building to contact the constabulary for support and each site will also benefit from an additional weekly neighbourhood policing team surgery open for access at the police station, so the local officers can be seen directly by the public.
Assistant chief constable Bill Dutton, head of Local Policing and Operations, said: “Helpdesks have played an important role in policing, and we know that for many people they have been an important interface between ourselves and the public.
“However, how people want to contact us has changed over the years and, with advancements in technology allowing us greater choice and convenience, it’s little wonder that the public much prefer to speak to us via their mobile phones or landlines or contact us through our website.
“Over the last couple of years we have seen an increased volume of calls to us and we are unable to answer them as quickly as I would like.
“These changes will allow us to improve these methods of contact, allowing us to answer phones and deploy officers more quickly than before – helping us to achieve our aim of providing the best police service in the country.
“It’s important to stress that we are not closing police stations as we have seen in other areas of the country, and police officers and our PCSOs will remain very much in the heart of our communities – those who would still prefer face to face contact have the option of attending one of our weekly PCSO surgeries.”
