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West End Extra - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 4 January 2008

Does crime keep office hours?

• ON December 27, at about 5.15pm, three of us all happened to visit Harrow Road police station at the same time. One was a mother with children in a pram. We found the door locked and bolted. Nobody was inside, and there was no explanatory notice for this and no indication of when the station would be reopening.
Someone before us had already forced a note under the door. Somebody else used the nearby phone and, when it was eventually answered, we were told the station was closed until Christmas and that no further information was available. The telephonist said that normally the station was now open until 11pm.
We were told we should go to Paddington Green police station, two miles away, no easy task for a mum with children. It is also common knowledge that this particular station is always busy and one must often wait a long time, some 45 minutes on average, before one is seen. It is also a station that lacks privacy.
My question is: can crime now only be reported during office hours? It seems daft that Harrow Road police station, in a major world city in the 21st century, is open only during office hours and that it can be closed simply because of Christmas.
Will it be closed for Easter? And for other bank holidays? Why not close it altogether?
ANTONY PORTER
Ashmore Road, W9

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, West End Extra, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@westendextra.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Wednesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number.
Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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