|
|
 |
| |
Police need to talk to us, the community
• Len Duvall's letter on the future of our cop shops is cold comfort for local people (Nov 30).
Mr Duvall, the chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority, confirms that "it is inevitable that some older-style police stations will close" and yet does nothing to engage with residents about how they can contribute to the discussion or even have an opinion.
Mr Duvall forgets that this was all started by the Borough Commander Mark Heath stating that he did have plans to close Hampstead police station.
This was then compounded when he and the Metropolitan Police Authority were forced to reveal in a Freedom of Information request that they were considering change of use to residential and a restaurant for Hampstead police station and that Kentish Town was also up for closure.
This whole situation could be eased if some transparency and openness were injected into matters. What is urgently needed is:
1. Genuine consultation with residents and police panels in Camden on what sort of policing residents want.
2. Better communications - talking to councillors would be a start and Safer Neighbourhood Panels a rather obvious source of good feedback and discussion.
3. A recognition of why we are in this state of affairs at all. The MPA and its estates, which they hold in trust for all our benefits, have been systematically neglected over the last 20 years.
Many of us are desperate to work with the police but it is heavy weather - a real understanding of our concerns and an attempt to engage with what is clearly a real debate amongst the estates strategy staff team and senior police officers would perhaps be a more genuine response.
ED FORDHAM
Christchurch Hill, NW3 ,
• FOLLOWING the recent coverage in the New Journal about Kentish Town police station in Holmes Road, I attended a Safer Neighbourhoods meeting at Kentish Town Primary School last Thursday evening.
Readers will be pleased to know that Sergeant Peter Ryan who is based at Holmes Road, gave a categorical assurance that the station would not be closing.
In fact, the local police will be opening a new additional base at 99 Kentish Town Road, which used to be the Duke of Cambridge pub, to house the Safer Neighbourhoods team.
Given these two pieces of news I was very surprised to receive a leaflet through my door a few days later from the Liberal Democrats continuing to claim that our police station would close. I can only assume that either the Lib Dems are hard of hearing, or they deliberately spreading falsehoods in Kentish Town for political purposes.
MARY WALLIS-JONES
Leighton Grove, NW5
|
 |
|
|
|
