FOUR police stations in south Essex will be closed or shut to the public as Essex Police announced plans to save cash.
Pitsea and Billericay will be closed and sold off and Canvey and Rayleigh stations will close their front counters to the public from April next year.
Stations in Leigh, Shoebury, Westcliff, Eastwood, South Benfleet and Hadleigh, which are all currently closed to the public but used by officers, will also be put up for sale.
Stations in Wickford and Laindon, which closed to the public in November 2011, will be sold and it is thought Laindon will become a forensic laboratory.
The latest cuts were revealed in a press conference yesterday as part of proposals to save £63million by 2020.
- Live blog Essex Police announce cuts and station closures
- Essex Police to close Pitsea and Billericay stations with Canvey and Rayleigh shutting to the public
Research carried out over two months showed 608 people visited Billericay’s front counter but just nine people reported a crime.
At Pitsea police station in the same period, 274 people visited the front counter but just nine reported a crime.
Do you think the police stations should be kept open? Should Essex Police keep front counters at their police stations accessible to the public?
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