Cumbria Constabulary is making changes to its front counter provisions as it seeks to adapt to the changing demands of the public.
The police station in Hunter Lane, Penrith, will have a front counter open to the public moving forward. Previously this had not been the case after the station was closed and put up for sale by the Cumbria police force.
The Constabulary is doing this because significant investment has been made in Hunter Lane as a main deployment base with response, neighbourhood, CID and intelligence officers working from there. As a result, it is anticipated that demand for front counter services will be needed.
The front counter at Brampton police station is to close from 1 April. Our communities have changed how they interact with the Constabulary. In response to this, a new neighbourhood policing model has been designed which means that there is a dedicated Community Beat Officer for Brampton, a dedicated Community Beat Officer for Longtown and two dedicated PCSOs that have a much smaller area to cover than they have previously had.
The Constabulary has achieved its national uplift target of recruiting an extra 169 police officers. This has enabled the Constabulary to strengthen several areas of the services it provides including the neighbourhood policing model.
Changes are also to be made to the opening hours of the front counters at Carlisle, Kendal, Barrow, Workington and Whitehaven whilst the front counters at Cockermouth and Windermere, which have been closed since 2020, are to remain closed.
You can find where your nearest front counter is and the opening times by visiting www.cumbria.police.uk.
All of the stations affected, including those whose front counters will no longer be open, will remain fully operational and functioning stations from which police officers and police community support officers will continue to work and be deployed from.
The opening date for the front counter at Hunter Lane, Penrith, will be confirmed in due course.
Detective Superintendent Dan St Quintin, Cumbria Constabulary, said:
"The Constabulary is adapting to meet the changing behaviour of the public.
"In 2014, the Constabulary saw its front counters utilised more than 100,000 times. Last year this number had fallen to around 13,000 - and a high proportion of those visiting front counters did so for a non-policing purpose.
"People are now less and less likely to seek to come to a police station to report a matter. This change in behaviour was accelerated by Covid-19, a period which also saw many people become more accustomed to communicating online.
"However, the Constabulary is keen for those who still wish to speak to the police in person to have the option to do so. With the public not coming to us, we will go to the public.
"The Constabulary is committing to implementing more face-to-face opportunities. Your Neighbourhood Policing Teams will be advertising opportunities to meet officers in person at police stations and out in the community, to discuss any concerns or issues you wish to raise. These meetings will be advertised on the Cumbria Police website, within our community newsletters and on our local social media accounts.”
The changes are expected to result in considerable savings of around £300,000 savings realised without the requirement for redundancies.
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