Wilson meets with police over station closures
Sammy Wilson has met with Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay to discuss the reduced opening hours which are to take affect at Newtownabbey and Carrickfergus police stations from 1st April 2010.
The East Antrim MP had a number of concerns that he raised with ACC Finlay and he was pleased that those concerns were addressed.
Mr Wilson said:
“I know that many people will be concerned when they hear that police stations in Carrick and Newtownabbey are to close between 11pm and 8 am. I too share those concerns but I welcome the fact that officers will not be spending time manning counters in police stations but instead will be out on the beat on the streets which I know is what the people want to see happen.
The PSNI have informed me that Carrick has an average of 1.3 people visiting the station between the hours of 11pm and 8am and Newtownabbey has 0.7 people. By closing the stations during these times when few people use them, it will allow more officers to be on the ground and I welcome the increased police presence which will help to detect and deter crime. Of course there will still be security personnel on duty at the stations at all times who will be able to deal with emergency situations.
I will be meeting with Alistair Finlay on a regular basis so that he can update me on how this is working out on the ground and I look forward to pressing him to ensure that what he has said will happen actually does happen.”
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I’ll be soon moving from Southern California to my home town of Carrick. I don’t want it to be like here when you call 911 (their 999) you get a busy signal or put on hold. As long as police are on the beat and dispatchers can summon them at any time that is the reason for having police . I take it that the 1.3 people visiting aren’t important. Whats next a flexi-time fire brigade?