THE chief constable of Devon and Cornwall Police this week gave assurances as far as he could that Okehampton Police Station would remain open for the foreseeable future during a special event in Hatherleigh.

Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer and Devon and Cornwall's police and crime commissioner Tony Hogg were in the town's community centre last Friday for a special BBC Radio Devon broadcast with presenter Bill Buckley. The 'Hot Seat Live' programme invited people from the area to attend a forum with Mr Sawyer and Mr Hogg to ask questions about policing in the county.

Among the hottest topics discussed during the broadcast and in an off-air question and answer session was the closure of Okehampton's police public enquiry office and the future of the town's police station.

The enquiry office was closed on October 31, leaving members of the public having to travel to the nearest one in Exeter. Devon and Cornwall Police is making changes to its public enquiry offices as part of a force-wide review into public contact. The changes are expected to save the force around £760,000 per annum.

Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer said: 'I will give assurances as much as I can, while awaiting a new government and whatever budget I have. We haven't closed police stations in terms of police officers deploying or PCSOs deploying.

'Even if we were closing stations, we would need to look at the business case in selling off a vast number of stations going forward. That is not my gift, it is the police commissioner's.

'Every time we have closed a station we've opened another one or moved in with the fire service or local authority. Okehampton is key geographically, it's key to the moor and public safety. It's actually quite a big town to be maintained. I cannot see us moving out of there in terms of a presence.

'In terms of the building, yes, that may be sold in the future — may, it's not my gift. I'm not intending to do it next week. We would keep the officers and staff, with the fire service or the local authority, or whatever, in the community.

'It's not going to be policed from Exeter or wherever. They will stay. But the building's a building.

'It's the quality of the people within in and how they are deployed that is my main focus.'

On criticism of the decision to close the enquiry office, Chief Constable Sawyer said that budget cuts were 'cutting to the bone' of Devon and Cornwall Police, and tough decisions had to be made across the two counties.

Mr Hogg said: 'None of us want to close front offices. People will link it with engagement with the police.

'But the simple fact is that the front offices were not being used. That is factual. So we need another system to contact the police face to face.

'As part of the closing of front offices, we need to make sure there are community engagement plans for everywhere where those front offices have closed, where the local police are working with the community — saying if you want to meet a police officer, this is how you do it.'

The quality of the response times for non-emergency crime reporting 101 telephone service also came in for criticism.

Both Mr Hogg and Mr Sawyer accepted the criticisms, the chief constable calling delays to responses 'unacceptable'.

Mr Hogg said: '999 is the call you should make when there is a real risk of harm, something actually happening. 101 is a lower priority system. 101 I know in this area, from spending time in this area, has not met the needs of the public.

'My office has just completed an important review into 101 and we will work with the chief constable to try and improve the response rates of 101.'

In recent weeks, Callington Town councillors have been among the 101 service's heaviest critics, calling for the abolishment of the police and crime commissioner post.

Amid seemingly never-ending cost cutting exercises and shrinking officer numbers, the cost of the commissioner post has been criticised in numerous quarters since the position was created in November 2012.

Defending his post, Mr Hogg said: 'I have pledged to uphold policing numbers as best I can. We should all lobby our MPs on this issue, and that's something you can all assist me with.

'If you didn't have a Police and Crime Commissioner, and I'm not being self-congratulatory, you would have less police officers at this stage.

'I inherited a position where we were going down to 2,810 police officers.

'Through careful budgeting, use of reserves and putting up the precept 2%, an additional three pence or so per head per year, we would have less officers.

'Shaun and I are synergistic in the sense that we are working very hard together in meeting the public sector demands on savings in the right ways.'

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