Freedom of Information Request 987/14

Response date: 5th January 2014

1. How many local police stations have been open in your force area in each of the past 7 financial years?

2. How many local police stations have a) closed in your force area in each of the past 7 financial years; b) what were the locations of these; and c) how many are you planning to close in the next 12 months?

3. How many front desks (desks open to public queries) a) have closed in local police stations in your force area in each of the past 7 financial years; and b) how many do you plan to close in the next 12 months?

RESPONSE

Question 1

Please see below for the number of Police Stations / Access Points open in South Police for each of the past 7 years:

2014 85 2013 87 2012 92 2011 95 2010 97 2009 99 2008 100

Question 2a & b

Please see the table overleaf to answer 2a & 2b (Please be mindful that this will not correspond directly to the above table as a number of stations have been opened and a number have been transferred from Police Stations to Back Office bases during the same period:

Continued…

THIS INFORMATION HAS BEEN PROVIDED IN RESPONSE TO A REQUEST UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000, AND IS CORRECT AS AT THE DATE ORIGINALLY PROVIDED.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the .

Freedom of Information Request 987/14

Date Sold Aberfan Police Office The Grove, Aberfan, CF48 4QA Apr-07 Police Office 18 Cilfynydd Road, , CF37 4NL Sep-07 Uplands Police Office 54 Gwydr Crescent, Uplands, Swansea, SA2 0AD Feb-08 Wenvoe Police Station 1 Old Port Road, Wenvoe, Cardiff, CF5 6AL Mar-08 St Nicholas Police Station Cowbridge Road, St Nicholas, Cardiff, CF5 6SH Mar-08 Taibach Police Station 66 Commerical Road, Taibach, Port Talbot, SA13 1LG May-08 Trecynon Police Station 6-10 Windsor Street, , CF44 8LN Sep-09 Police Station Ynysmeurig Road, Abercynon, Mountain Ash CF45 4SU Sep-10 Llansamlet Police Office 41 Peniel Green Road, Llansamlet, SA7 9BG Sep-10 Colcot Police Office 1 Winston Road, Colcoy, Barry, CF62 9SU Mar-11 Grangetown Police Station Dorset Street, Grangetown, Cardiff, CF11 6PT Dec-11 Briton Ferry Police Office 155 Neath Road, Briton Ferry, SA11 2BX Mar-12 Police Station Maerdy Community Centre, Park Street, Maerdy Mar-12 Troedyrhiw Police Station Bridge Street, Troedyrhiw, Merthyr Tydfil, CF48 4EA Nov-12 Cwmavon Police Office 60 Depot Road, Cwmavon, Port Talbot SA12 9BA May-13 Gwaun Cae Gurwen Police Station 36 Heol Cae Gurwen, Gwauncaegurwen, SA18 1HG Aug-13 Police Station Forest Road, Pontypridd, CF382DP Aug-13 Police Station Bridgend Road, Llanharan, CF72 9RA Aug-13 Police Station 20 Windsor Place, Ynysybwl CF37 3HR Aug-13 Canton Police Station 194 Cowbridge Road, Canton, Cardiff, CF5 1GQ Feb-14 Caerau Police Station Duffryn Road, Maesteg, CF34 0SS Aug-14 Reynoldston Police Station 1 The Cross, Reynoldston, Swansea, SA3 1LD Aug-14

Question 2c

South Wales Police are planning to close Clydach, , Merthyr and Port Talbot Police Station in the next 12 months. It should be noted that new stations have recently opened (2013) in both Merthyr and Bridgend and station is a relatively newly built facility

Question 3

A front counter service is provided at eight stations in the force area. A 24 hour service is provided at Swansea Central and Cardiff Bay and a 0800hrs to Midnight Service is provided at Neath, Bridgend, Barry, Cardiff Central, Pontypridd, Merthyr Tydfil.

Continued…

THIS INFORMATION HAS BEEN PROVIDED IN RESPONSE TO A REQUEST UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000, AND IS CORRECT AS AT THE DATE ORIGINALLY PROVIDED.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the South Wales Police.

Freedom of Information Request 987/14

Question 3a

We have consulted with our Basic Command Unit managers who have confirmed that 33 stations have closed in the past 7 financial years. Please note that if a member of the public knocks on the door of a staffed building the staff inside will open the door to speak to the person and deal with their enquiry.

Question 3b

The current 8 front counter services will remain for the foreseeable future.

Context For Reductions in Front Desks As a result of the significant and unprecedented reductions in police funding following the CSR in 2010 it was incumbent on South Police to fully review and assess all aspects of service delivery. We undertook footfall analysis at all of our Front Desks in November 2010 and again in May 2013. Both of these exercises clearly demonstrated that demand for Front Desk services has reduced significantly. The 2013 analysis shows that between 9:00-17:00 there is an average of 8 persons per hour attending the front desk of a police station, with 24% of these being related to Custody issues. The communities which we serve are changing and visits by the public to Police Stations, are reducing because service provision has improved. For example the demand for vehicle\driver document presentations at Front Desks have been reduced dramatically as our Police Officers all have mobile data devices and can check vehicle ownership, MOT, Insurance and Driver Licences whilst they are talking to drivers and this removes the need for the drivers to visit Front Desks to present their documents.

The public’s main way of contacting the Police to report incidents and crimes is via the phone. With the vast majority of the public now having easy access to a landline or mobile phone this is not surprising. Our Public Service Centre, launched in spring 2012, serves as a ‘one stop shop’ for customers who contact us in this way. At the Public Service Centre, staff assist in the resolution of a caller’s problem on the spot. If this is not possible they have the ability to send a police officer immediately, schedule an appointment for a convenient time, or refer it to an officer or member of staff with specific skills in that area, for example, domestic violence or hate crime. We have also invested in new technology that allows the Public Service Centre to track the location of our officers and vehicles and ensure that our service is delivered on time, by the right person with the appropriate skills.

Apart from the improved service technology allows us to provide the demand from the public on how they access our services has also changed. Increasingly we are responding and communicating with the public through social media via Facebook and Twitter and also online through our Force webpage and via email. This is a growing area of demand and one we continue to invest in to meet the public’s expectations.

In summary, over the last five or six years we have experienced a significant shift in demand from the public requiring face to face contact at Front Desks to 24\7 social media provision. Given the significant austerity measures we are managing, a real terms reduction in Government funding of 20% over the last 5 years, we have had to realign our Front Desk resources to meet the public’s changing demand requirements. However, we remain committed to providing members of the public with the opportunity to access our face-to-face services, and to provide a safe, private, and pleasant environment to discuss personal or sensitive matters at our remaining 8 Front Desks in Swansea Central, Cardiff Bay, Neath, Bridgend, Barry, Cardiff Central, Pontypridd and Merthyr Tydfil.

THIS INFORMATION HAS BEEN PROVIDED IN RESPONSE TO A REQUEST UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000, AND IS CORRECT AS AT THE DATE ORIGINALLY PROVIDED.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the South Wales Police.