Up-date - Highbury Vale police station (Islington Liberal Democrats)

Islington Liberal Democrats <Islington_ld@cix.co.uk>

Up-date - Highbury Vale police station

December 2, 2002 12:00 AM

The Liberal Democrats are fully committed to working with the police, residents and other agencies to tackle crime across the borough. The council's role in the Islington Strategic Partnership and the Partnership's commitment to tackling crime and promoting community safety is evidence of how the council is working with its partners across the borough. The council is also a key player in the Islington Crime Reduction Partnership which in 2002/03 has co-ordinated the spending of over 1 million pounds towards crime reduction initiatives. Our close working with the police in particular will continue to be clearly focussed on tackling crime and the causes of crime." I support the police in their desire to target their resources to where they can do most good in the fight against crime. I am waiting for the report of the metropolitan police review of their Londonwide policy on volunteers and look forward to the borough commander's proposals to make best use of them locally. This could include using them to provide public access to Highbury Vale station and will most certainly include deciding what's the best use of limited resources for the whole borough. I am also pleased to note that Islington police are reviewing the use of all their premises throughout Islington to assess which ones are best suited for public access and could be opened to the public. Background The police closed Highbury Vale station to the public on 24 Jan. 2000. This followed two surveys of callers to the station which showed that there were on average 14 callers a day and that nearly all of the callers were for persons returning on bail or producing their motor vehicle documents. There is a telephone at the front of the building providing direct 24 hr contact with Holloway station. The station is currently providing a valuable resource to the police, in fact more uniformed police use it than ever before as a base for briefings, planning and administrative work. The football office, dealing with police matters for the Arsenal, is also based there.