Police open first station in 17 years on firefighter land

Essex Police has been able to open its first station in 17 years by sharing space.

Dovercourt Police Station was built at a reduced cost of £4.5m by using spare land at Dovercourt Fire Station.

Roger Hirst, Essex's Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC), described it as a bargain, compared to the £7.5m cost of the last building - Great Dunmow Police Station - which was "a bit larger", but "too rigid [with] no flexibility".

He said: "The old police stations that we've had aren't really fit for purpose anymore; they're designed for an old-fashioned policing style.

"This is modern; it's got all the tech in it that we need to have. They'll be able to use this on a much more flexible basis than they would."

He said policing as a whole has "changed enormously" in two decades, and officers have unlocked the ability to send back data while staying on patrol rather than needing to come down and "sit in front of a desk and write things down".

The PFCC role combined the fire service and police force in 2017, which Hirst said had saved "over £20 million pounds" so far.

He said the building merger in Dovercourt would allow them to share communal facilities, a working collaboration and "friendship".

It was built on what was previously the fire service station commander's house.

The new building replaces the old Harwich station 1.5 miles (2.4km) away.

Stuart Austin, the district commander for Tendring, said: "The new location allows us to quickly get down into Harwich, but also allows us to be a bit more strategically located near to the A120."

It made places in north Tendring "more easily accessible", he added.

Dovercourt does not have a front counter, but allows 101 calls through its yellow phone out the front.

Last year, Essex Police closed half of its station's front desks after revealing that, in January, only 203 people reported new crimes or intelligence, out of 6,703 visitors overall.

Hirst described them as "a bit of an old-fashioned concept", adding that the 101 system has improved since seeing "massive investment".

He said: "Who is ever happy when they're told they're having something taken away?

"I really don't want a police officer sitting, waiting behind a counter for nothing to happen when they could be out patrolling with the public."

Chief Constable Rachel Nolan also stood by the decision to close the desks, explaining that many public queries "weren't related to policing".

She said: "We decided that actually it would be far better to have our police out and about where we need them.

The force's new chatbot, Bobby, has been brought in to answer "about half" of all queries without having to wait for a human, and she said feedback had been "really positive".

Austin admitted that policing and crime have become more complex and online, but reaffirmed his commitment to keep Bobby's on the Beat.

"Essex Police will always be a force which wants to have visible policing in our communities," he said.

"At the end of the day, people like seeing a police officer; people like seeing officers on patrol, whether that's on foot or in vehicles."

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