Ms Alison Hernandez, police commissioner, told councillors this week: “The key thing I’m here tonight to talk to you about is Dartmouth Police Station and the fact that we’ve sold it.
“We believe we will be finalised around September time. So it’s happening quite quickly. We’re looking to retain a part of the space within it for policing use but obviously it’s redevelopment, so it will be getting knocked down.
“Its redevelopment will take a period of time, so we’re looking at doing an interim option at the moment and we’ve found somewhere temporarily at St John Ambulance Station up in Townstal.
“We‘ve signed a lease with St John Ambulance and are waiting for them to confirm.”
Ms Hernandez confirmed that the intention was to take 90 square metres in the new development and to retain the designated police parking spaces. The redevelopment is expected to take around two years from the date it is sold.
Sergeant Iain Simons of Dartmouth Police said: “It is really positive news that Dartmouth police are maintaining a permanent presence in the town. This will ensure a policing commitment to Dartmouth and the surrounding parishes for many years to come and provide the support and reassurance to community deserve.”
Devon County Councillor, Jonathan Hawkins, commented: “I am delighted that you have confirmed we will have a permanent police presence in Dartmouth. We have, in the last couple of years lost our hospital and it’s moved to the top of town, Townstal.
“Can we have assurance from you, before you move from your present police station, that you are up and running in the St John Ambulance Station. Because, we’ve had concerns in the past that one facility has closed and we have a vision or aspiration of a new one but that doesn’t actually happen.
“So can we have your assurance tonight that when you close Police Station Square that you will be in the building at St John Ambulance?”
Ms Hernandez responded: “We’ve signed the lease at St John Ambulance. We’re just waiting for them to come back to us to confirm. So we’re definitely at a point to secure St John Ambulance.
“We’re pretty 100% sure we’ve secured St John Ambulance. It’s as early as September that we’re looking to help the team move to new premises.”
Councillor de Galleani asked: “Talking about the police station moving to the top of the town and rebuilding and retaining the bottom bit (of the redevelopment), does that mean we’ll have an open police station again or does it just mean it will be a shut door with a telephone?”
Ms Hernandez said she could not promise anything about having an open police station she explained: “One thing that has been really interesting is that because they made police enquiry officers redundant, it’s been a tetchy subject (when) I’ve talked about manning with volunteers.
“There’s one in Cornwall that they wish to staff with volunteers and we’ve had a really challenging conversation with the unions about the police enquiry officers who’ve lost their colleagues, along the lines of: “that’s not working, that’s not right.”
“I think the best thing I can do is mention the Counsellor Advocate Scheme I’ve set up for any councillor who would like to be closer to their policing. Contact my office to get better support with your policing. Get some counsellors to do that and we can give you support with your policing and be better connected with what we can do when that (Dartmouth Police Station) does open.
“I need help to do it. I need demand from the public. The reality is that stations open to the public are under used.
“I’m not saying that police have promoted them very well and encouraged people to come in but the reality is that the eight that are left open at the moment, registered sex offenders go in there to change their address details or register themselves as a sex offender in the area; we have migration issues where people update their new addresses; we’ve got students in the area that have to do their address changes and we’ve got people coming in linked to detention and arrest.
“The general public generally don’t go in there or the eight ones we’ve got open.
We’ve got to change the dynamic of what the police can offer you and what you want from the police and that’s what I’m working on at the moment.”
Cllr de Galleani suggested lost property could be dealt with at the police station. This received a response from the Police and Crime Commissioner: “Do you really want police officers dealing with lost property? We’ve got police officers that can’t have meal breaks on response or take annual leave when they need it. The reality is we haven’t got enough police officers to actually man or do the jobs we need them to do, so I wouldn’t ever push the chief constable in seeking commitment for that.”