On Tuesday 26th July Police Officers stood up at a meeting with Councillors representing Woodford and South Woodford to announce that Woodford Police Station is to close from September 2011.
The officers had been told just hours before! The reason? To save money.
Officers will now be driven in, from Ilford, every day, to police the Woodford area. As of September 2011the London Borough of Redbridge will have just 3 operating police stations, one per 90,000 people.
To put this in context, the UK has fewer police officers per 100,000 people than Portugal, Greece and Ireland and only an estimated 6% of police station in the UK are open 24 hours a day.
Our hearts go out to the people of Woodford who can now expect, in our opinion, to see an increase in crime.
But what next for Wanstead? We already know there are no “imminent” plans to close yet another station in this borough, but, there are plans none the less.
If you bus police officers in from Barkingside and Ilford and sell off Woodford and Wanstead Police station’s, sure – you`ll make some money. However, what of the crime rate when police officers have to tackle the A406/ North Circular/ Redbridge Roundabout congestion?
The fact remains: manned local police stations mean fewer crimes. Unless you want Wanstead Police Station to close join our campaign to help save it.