Two local MPs have also joined the calls to save the only place in the borough where a crime can be reported in person, report Benjamin Kelsey and James Cracknell

Edmonton Police Station and (inset right) Feryal Clark MP and (inset left) Bambos Charalambous MP

Hundreds of people have signed a petition to save the front counter at Edmonton Police Station – as two local MPs also join the calls to save it.

The petition, which was launched in July by Edmonton and Winchmore Hill Conservatives and has now passed 500 signatures, calls for Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan and the government to reconsider cuts to police front desks across the capital – including the only place in Enfield borough where a crime can be reported in person.

Prior to last year’s election, Khan pledged in his manifesto to “maintain a 24-hour police front office counter in every borough” but, last month, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that 18 out of 37 counters were set to be closed, including those in Edmonton and Tottenham, while Wood Green is proposed to reopen as a replacement to serve both Enfield and Haringey boroughs.

The closures would mean that only 20 front desks remain open across the capital for Londoners to report a crime in person.

Enfield North MP Feryal Clark and Southgate and Wood Green MP Bambos Charalambous have now joined forces to write a letter this week to Khan and Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley to express “deep concern and strong objection to the closure of Edmonton Police Station front counter”.

Edmonton and Winchmore Hill MP Kate Osamor, as well as Enfield Council leader Ergin Erbil, had previously written their own letters opposing the move.

Posting on social media on Tuesday (2^nd), Clark said: “I am deeply disappointed by plans to close Edmonton Police Station’s front counter which would leave Enfield as one of the only London boroughs without a single police front counter.”

In the letter signed by both Clark and Charalambous, the pair said: “Accessibility is central to this issue. While online reporting and 101 services play an important role, they cannot replace the reassurance, immediacy, and inclusivity of a staffed police counter.”

In a reply on social media, one user commented: “When they have taken away all places people have to report crime, so many never get reported and the ones that do go nowhere.”

Last month, the Met’s assistant commissioner Matt Twist told the London Assembly the move would save £7million, helping fill a £260million funding gap.

Twist justified the closures by suggesting crime reporting at station front counters had significantly reduced in recent years, to just 5%, “as people have shifted to the use of phones and online means”.

All three local MPs in Enfield now opposing the move are Labour Party politicians – as is Khan.

To sign the petition against the closure of Edmonton Police Station’s front counter:
Visit change.org/p/keep-edmonton-green-police-station-front-counter-open

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