麻豆社

Essex Police have been closing their police stations and buildings for more than a decade, including six in the past 18 months.

Since 2016 - the force has raised 35 million pounds from these sales as part of its estates strategy.

麻豆社 reporter Matt Knight has been to the Essex town of Ongar to find out how people living there feel about not having a police station...

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Essex police says the strategy is part of the force's drive to create a "modern" and "flexible" police force, with Chief constable Ben-Julian Harrington citing investment in city locations like Southend and Chelmsford, while a new base being built for the north of the county in Dovercourt, to replace the existing Harwich police station. Mr Harrington said: "Police stations don't catch criminals, cops and police staff do. "I think every force would turn round and say all the police stations aren't in the place you'd have them. They are Edwardian, some are hundreds of years old, and were put in place when policing was very different. "Where we do close police stations down, that is because operationally they are not necessary."

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