Hiding Police Stations

Leicestershire Police Force has recently come in for criticism after moving a number of police stations without telling anybody. A spokesperson for the force said that in the interests of economic efficiency it had been decided to move seven small local stations into shared premises. These stations now occupy unused offices in places like libraries and community centres.

However, critics have questioned why this had to be done in the dead of night, without publicising the moves and without posting new signage. They claim that this is a transparent attempt to bring crime figures down, since people can't report a crime if they don't know where to go to report it. They believe that this also explains why police phone numbers are now ex-directory.

Police authorities have reacted strongly to this claim and continue to insist that the moves are not only designed to make better use of resources but are also intended to make the service more accessible to the general public. To illustrate this, they point to their new flagship facility in Hinckley, which is situated in the back room of a butcher's shop. It is, they claim proudly, the only police station in the country where you can report a major incident and buy your sausages at the same time.