Police chiefs were grilled over the implications of moving their headquarters to south Reading after Thames Valley Police relocated to Atlantic House in Imperial Way, Whitley in November last year.
The force had been due to leave its Castle Street HQ in March 2022, but the move was delayed by complications with the fit-out contractor. Questions about the impact of the relocation were raised at a Reading Borough Council policy committee on Monday 16 March, where Matthew Barber, the Conservative Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner, and Chief Constable Jason Hogg gave an annual presentation.
Cllr Karen Rowland, lead councillor for community safety, asked where people can now access the police, particularly in the town centre. She said: "We are wondering where people access the police any more, if you are going to ever have a police station, so that front desk sort of thing."
She added: "I think it's really helpful that the public understands that." Cllr Rowland, who represents the town centre, highlighted journey-time concerns to Caversham, noting 117 crimes were reported there in January, according to Police.UK data.
She said: "I checked on Google Maps to see how quickly you can drive from that station to Caversham should there be an emergency. At 5.15pm, it would take you 20 minutes to drive to Caversham precinct, it would have taken you 14 minutes to drive to the town centre. I wanted to know a little bit more about how that is being handled, how we can reassure our residents that you all are there, that you are going to be there when you need to be. How are you addressing the fact that our highest levels of crime in the town centre, you are now more remote, how is that being dealt with?"
Mr Barber said the force is committed to opening a front counter in the town centre later this year. He said: "To be really clear, my desire is still to have a front counter within the town centre, there is work still ongoing to try and find the right location. We've had conversations with yourselves as the council, to try and find the ideal location for that, and it's challenging given some of the financial restraints that the police have got, but not impossible."
He added: "However, there is a bit of a myth around police stations, that we have this stock of police officers who are just sat their having their cups of tea waiting for the phones to ring to be dispatched. Wherever you locate your police station, you will have travel times, but police are not just sitting there waiting for a phone call. They do need a desk to do some of that frustratingly unnecessary paper work that police have to do."
Mr Hogg said: "We didn't want to move out of the town centre, we're absolutely committed to having a base in the town centre, by the end of the year hopefully we'll have that in place."
Cllr Rowland is standing in the council elections on Thursday 7 May.
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
