A NEW police desk, accessible to the public, could open in Tavistock in Bedford Square next June, Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez has said.

In an exclusive interview with the Times, Commissioner Hernandez said that she was fighting to make sure that her Tavistock plan went ahead. She is encouraging those in the town and surrounding areas to lobby local councillors in the meantime to make sure these plans come to fruition.

Her comments come following an update report, written by the Commissioner for discussion at a meeting of the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel last Friday in Plymouth, which outlines a provisional schedule for station reopenings, some of which will happen as early as November.

Twelve police stations’ front desks are set to reopen across the Devon and Cornwall over the next three years. These plans would bring an open desk back to the town for the first time in over a decade, following closure in April 2011 as part of plans to save £50 million over a four year period and in response to declining footfall.

Commissioner Hernandez told the Times: ‘I know Tavistock well and we are working with the police museum to set up a new police base in the Court Gate building in Bedford Sqaure. We are aiming to get the front desk enquiry office in Tavistock to be highly visible where there’s footfall.’

The Commissioner’s update report also confirms that seven police stations’ front desks are set to reopen in November of this year: Tiverton, Penzance, Newton Abbot, Falmouth, Bude, Truro and Newquay – the first four stations having been outlined in provisional plans announced in May of this year.

Five other front desks, including Tavistock’s, are listed to reopen in the next three years as part of a phased process, which the Commissioner states she would like to see increased to 20 stations within these three years.

Commissioner Hernandez added: ‘It’s been a real fight to get them reopened. I’m forcing this. For now, Tavistock’s desk and the other four scheduled in the list remain a possibility rather than actuality. It would be great if people lobbied councillors in order to help push and finalise these plans. My focus right now is ensuring the reopenings planned for November are delivered successfully. From there, we can go through budget planning and finalise the reopening for Tavistock.

‘The biggest thing for me is that policing is by our community’s side – our stations should serve as accessible points in communities. We don’t want to continue with austerity times – we want to be accessible to public and be by their side. Our focus in Tavistock is police engagement. The town is a low crime area and we want to keep it down. With Tavistock, we will be adopting a partnership approach as Court Gate is a town council-owned building, so not everything is within my control.’

The Commissioner further added that although the police station in Tavistock (situated on Abbey Rise) currently does not have an open front desk, it is still open as normal for appointment or voluntary interviews and that the station (as do all others) has a phone in a blue box outside the building which is given priority when used to report crime.

Devon County Councillor for Tavistock and Gulworthy Debo Sellis said: ‘I’ve known about this for some time now and think it’s very important that Tavistock has an open desk for residents of the town to access. The PCC has been very supportive of any initiatives where I’ve tried getting better police presence in Tavistock and using the now vacant Court Gate building.’

According to the Commissioner’s report, Okehampton is also set to receive a public police desk in June 2023.

Plans would see each front office open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 3pm, with staff recruitment to commence shortly.

The three remaining stations, Ivybridge and Illfracombe are planned to reopen in June 2024 and Exmouth in June 2025.