Metropolitan Police to close Victorian stations.

[Lt. Gen. Ezra Addle]

Lo' everyone.
I don't know if this has been mentioned before and it has happened yet, but it's certainly on the Met's 'to do' list. Granted it probably isn't a great deal of interest to many of you as hopefully the police have precious little to do with your lives but I thought the Victorian element might be of some interest to someone!

Basically, the Met wants to close down around 60 stations and build nice shiny new 'patrol bases' with all the modern creature comforts. However, these patrol bases will be far away from the community they wish to serve, with direct contact being kept by a series of contact stations dotted around here and there. The reasons for this are varied and to some extent understandable, the old buildings are increasingly expensive to keep and don't offer the sort of facilities needed alot of the time, or are sub-standard, custody units being a popular example of this. Also, more and more of the public are staying away from police stations and instead contacting the police over the phone or the internet and with the British Bobby becoming more and more of reactionary police officer, there isn't really much need for the police to be stationed at a police station.
Despite all this though, I can't help but feel a little sad that the Met is planning to write off these old buildings. It's quite impressive really, these wonderful 19th century buildings with their big blue lanterns outside, although the double glazing does spoil the effect somewhat...

But yes. Not only is it quite impressive, these buildings are also part of policing history, some of them have been around almost as long as the police themselves. So to have them abandoned for a barbed wire surrounded warehouse is a bit of a let down.
If anyone has ever played Resident Evil or Farenheit (called Indigo Prophecy in the USA) and seen the police stations in those games and how lovely they look and how it must on some level be a bit more pleasant to work in than a blocky cement structure, can hopefully understand why it's a shame that these stations might be going.
While it is perhaps a little vain to try and keep something purely on architectural value, well.. So be it!

The move is also very unpopular in the public's point of view. They hunger for the days of the Bobby on the beat and a village constable and they see the met getting rid of these stations as yet another blow to community policing, as they would become more and more isolated from the community they serve as they retreat to their patrol base like a retreating army.

I can see merits in both arguments, from an operational and financial point of view, getting rid of the old stations and building modern patrol bases does make alot of sense, but having a police station is just.. Well it's just a given isn't it? Not having a police station seems just wrong!
Anyway, like I said, this isn't really very interesting to anyone outside of London, but I just thought I'd mention it.
 
Oh, and there was one more thing, the Met also looked at some uniform redesigns and someone came up with the spiffing idea of bringing back the old Constable's cloak, but waterproof and with hi-viz bits on it! Bless!
But yes, I hope this is of interest to somebody!

[Samuel]

Slowly, the world us steampunks love is dying...

[Jaqhama]

The days of the Bobby on the beat in Ozland died out decades ago.

Fancy cars, automatic pistols and dark blue combat fatigues are the order of the day here.
Cops never walk around here if they can possibly avoid it.
Which is one reason why you seldom see slim, fit looking coppers I expect.
The Government has closed heaps of local police stations in the cities, and more in country areas...and it's not because crime has dropped off either.

People would love to see Bobbies patrolling the streets. The majority of citizens are too scared to walk around their local suburbs after dark.
I ride my mountain bicycle around at night and seldom ever see anyone in my area. And I live in a relatively safe area to begin with.

[Jarod20]

It would be nice to be able to buy a station

[akumabito]

It would be nice to be able to buy a station

Ever since Ghostbusters I wanted to live in an old fire station..

The pole! The pole! Every house should have one!

[Commander Obadiah]

You rarely seen any cops on the beat here in New Zealand. It takes a lot to get them to come to a callout too. "A guy just threw a brick through our restaurant window, but we managed to tackle him and get him in here" "Alright, so are you sure you need a constable?" "Hold on-" Thirty seconds later, I'm back on the phone. "Yeah, he started to take a swing at my assistant manager, but he's being held down by four or five guys"

Thirty minutes later, one cop shows up.

Ten minutes after that, two more show up.

An hour and a half after that, I spot 12 in on my 6km ride home from work, all pulling over young hoons in their cars.

Commander C. Obadiah

[Hepzibah Falkenheim]

Police patrol on horseback around my neighbourhood. It's pretty cool.

(neighbourhood, oh... )

[James Harrison]

Police?  What are they?

Yeah, you probably guess we don't see many of them around town anymore...

[Baron Montgomery Moneybag]

There should be more Police patrols late at night I reckon. But not in cars, on foot. I think that would possibly bring down the level of crime, especially amongst young street urchins.

And bring on the cloaks!

[Prof. George of Chaos]

Slowly, the world us steampunks love is dying...

Not while we have anything to say about it!
How can you possibly say such a thing while Von Slatt builds, the rest of us are learning to and every Western city keeps up maintenance to Victorian buildings?
No, there's hope yet friend.

Now that bit of threadjacking's done with, I don wonder what will happen to those old stations, will the UK steampunks here keep us posted?

I ride my mountain bicycle around at night and seldom ever see anyone in my area.

Um. If you barely see anyone (and therefore can't exactly be seeing many threatening sorts) where's the problem? I do the same thing on foot around my city at night sometimes, and the only trouble I've ever had's in high visibility transit areas in daylight (well, there was that one time in the tunnels, but that was pretty tame honestly, and barely relevant). I have to wonder how much of the trouble people expect is entirely mythological.

Which isn't to say that there aren't some very nasty people around, who it is helpful to have police to protect gentler folks from, but am I alone in welcoming a decrease in police presence anywhere? In a country whose laws forbid squatting (for example) when there are both empty buildings and people sleeping in the cold I'm not entirely certain an armed body of people whose sole purpose is to enact the laws of the resident government is an entirely good thing.

[Luella Dobson]

That's such a sad thing! fight, Brits, FIGHT I SAY. fight better than you fought us Yankees during the revolution!!

[Sir Nikolas Vendigroth]

That's such a sad thing! fight, Brits, FIGHT I SAY. fight better than you fought us Yankees during the revolution!!

No point, rlly, we'd just get steamrolled.


Tonight, I am mostly wishing, in a most melancholic fashion, for England to be all she used to be.

[Luella Dobson]

That's such a sad thing! fight, Brits, FIGHT I SAY. fight better than you fought us Yankees during the revolution!!

No point, rlly, we'd just get steamrolled.


Tonight, I am mostly wishing, in a most melancholic fashion, for England to be all she used to be.

*sigh* I suppose you're right. Chicago is crumbling too. Nobody is doing anything with the old Uptown Theater, which is rumored to be gorgeous inside. It's simply going to dust. Perhaps if we all wish for our cities to be as glorious as they once were, a miracle would happen.

[Lady Penelope]

Police patrol on horseback around my neighbourhood. It's pretty cool.

On my university campus too, though admittedly we see the ones in their air-conditioned cars much more frequently.