Calls to reopen police stations across Dorset after six sold off since 2013

MP Richard Drax has argued local police stations must be 'the future' to not just protect the public, but to give frontline beat officers more control of areas they cover.

Mr Drax said that in his constituency, 10 police inquiry offices were lost between 2011 and 2015, while six police stations have been sold since 2013.

READ MORE: Major redevelopment plan for Brenda Dench House, Weymouth

Officers patrol Custom House Quay. Picture: Sam McKeown

He said: "For almost 200 years, 'bobbies on the beat' have been a presence on our streets, policing by consent and living and working among us.

"They lived locally, often in police houses or stations, so they soon gained specialist knowledge of their area and of the bad eggs.

"That pattern of policing ensured the public’s respect, which enabled officers to work effectively.

"A 'local bobby' was in a position to identify a troublemaker, often staving off more serious offences. Out on the beat, their physical presence deterred the criminals.

"The police station itself was a focal point for the community - a base from which patrols went out and to which concerned citizens went."

READ MORE: Archaeologists call for further excavations at Weymouth North Quay

Sergeant Stone and PC Farwell from Dorset Police speak to a vulnerable man next to Westham Bridge

However, the South Dorset MP said at least half of all police stations in England have closed over the past 10 years - with the Public Accounts Committee agreeing the closures were due to financial restraints, saying in 2018 that forces were 'selling off more of their assets to try and raise some funds for capital investment and increasingly drawing on their reserves'.

Mr Drax added: "These statistics were used to justify the introduction of digital crime reporting services. They certainly have their place, but officers cannot patrol digitally.

"That's not a personal attack on the police. They are pushed, and I have nothing but praise for the police.

"Data from my constituency in Dorset shows that we lost 10 inquiry offices between 2011 and 2015.

"Six Dorset police stations have been sold since 2013 - I am told due to financial pressures and the consequential change to the way the police have had to operate.

"We're now left with seven stations and a drop-in hub."

However, police numbers across Dorset are at 1,326 - the highest level since March 2013, with a view to increase these numbers by 100 in the next two years, while Dorset’s population is projected to rise by 4.3 per cent a year.

Mr Drax said: "I get the point that has been repeatedly made to me that a police officer’s job has changed to a huge degree, now dealing with online abuse and theft. The online world has introduced a raft of new areas for policing, which is without doubt taking officers off the beat. All I would say to the Minister for Crime and Policing is that we need more police on the street. We cannot lose the streets to the criminals, because that effective relationship between the citizen and the officer will otherwise be lost.

"Police stations may be viewed as old-fashioned and expensive, but they are invaluable, giving officers more control of their area of responsibility and the public the reassurance they seek.

"Police officers do their job with our consent. Break the link between us and them and the divide will continue to grow. Police stations are not an anachronism; they must be the future."