The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
This is for all our local areas in the region that have lost visual support from our police.
With Lincolnshire being such a large county and thousands of new homes planned over the next few decades, surely there is a case for a better police presence throughout our local communities.
Take Crowland where I live, I note the police station has been closed for some time and community policing is a sweep through the town in a police van.
With towns and rural communities getting bigger these empty buildings could be utilised as a hub for better community policing.
The hub could cover the town and several of the surrounding areas providing a better response time regarding incidents and giving the public more confidence in the police.
I understand our neighbouring town of Market Deeping has a part-time opening policy at their police station and they rely on volunteers to signpost people with issues at the help desk.
Again with a growing population, the police numbers in comparison have been slashed and the people who commit crimes don’t do it part-time.
There could be better opportunities for the police to meet the local community, like a recent initiative in Holbeach.
Sessions like this instil confidence and a partnership approach in our community.
Currently there are 1,220 officers covering Lincolnshire and almost 160,000 covering the entire UK.
Although the government has been trying to increase numbers we are still 12,000 fewer officers than eleven years ago when we had 172,000.
Instead of pressing the pause button for a decade, things need to change and police resources need to be put back to a more realistic level.
I would urge all concerned residents to lobby their local representative as I understand my local parish council has been lobbying for years. We need more weight to be added to the cause and we might get heard amongst the current turmoil we find ourselves in.
Rodney Sadd
Crowland
