PSNI must fill Eglinton vacuum

Mr Middleton called on the PSNI to ensure response times to incidents in the village do not slacken off after the station closed for good.

“The PSNI station has now closed. Residents of the village were 95 per cent against the closure. They regarded the station as a physical deterrent. That’s a gap that now needs to be filled,” Mr Middleton told the Sentinel.

Last year G District Chief Superintendent Stephen Martin justified the closure of police stations in Eglinton and Dungiven, saying local officers now spend 15 per cent more time on patrols because smartphones enable them to complete paperwork on the hoof.

Mr Middleton said he accepted this rationale to a certain extent but warned that the PSNI must act to make sure response times don’t suffer.

“Whilst we understand the reasons given by the PSNI for closure - such as being able to do more administrative work on the beat on smartphones, for example - the people in Eglinton see themselves as being seven miles away from the police stations in Londonderry,” he said.

“Are the response times going to be the same? Over recent years we’ve seen crime decrease in Eglinton. We want that to continue,” Mr Middleton concluded.

Whilst Eglinton housed the Waterside Rural Neighbourhood Policing Team only 180 people visited the station in 2011.

Chief Superintendent Martin explained last year that an overall police estate 70 per cent bigger than those of comparable forces in the UK was the legacy of a “very different era.”

He argued a 12-year low in Northern Ireland crime levels had been achieved by engaging with the public in a variety of ways

Last week Foyle Area Commander Jon Burrows said: “During the public consultation period the overwhelming feeling amongst local people was the importance of retaining the level of service provided by police, particularly neighbourhood police, in the area.”

He said: “While the closure of the station will be disappointing for some we are confident that we can continue to deliver a professional and personal service to the people of Eglinton.

“The Waterside Rural Neighbourhood Policing Team is well established in the village and has built up positive relationships with local people, businesses and community representatives.

“The Team will continue to police the Eglinton area and are contactable on all the same numbers.”

The closure of the Eglinton and Dungiven stations is part of a PSNI pledge to deliver £135m in efficiency savings between 2011/12 and 2014/15.

The force needs to deliver a £2.2m saving in the state baseline budget in order to protect frontline staff and services and says it cannot continue to fund the current size of the police estate. Closing Eglinton, however, will save only £2,911 per year in maintenance costs.