MERSEYSIDE Police are set to change the opening hours of General Enquiry Offices (GEOs) and to open new community police stations (CPS) after an extensive service review.

The review found that the number of people visiting GEOs across Merseyside has reduced significantly with just 1.2 people visiting on average.

Frontline officers have also had to provide cover at GEOs due to staff shortages which prevents them from responding to emergency incidents.

Now the force will change GEO opening times, open two new CPSs and recruit additional temporary staff to provide the GEO service following the review.

Deputy chief constable Serena Kennedy told the Globe: “It’s really important to us to get the right offer for our communities and that needs to balance their needs with the demand we see for services, so we can put our resources in the right places.

"Year on year we have seen attendance at our general enquiry offices falling and often, because of staff shortages, frontline officers have had to provide cover at the enquiry offices, when they should have been out on the streets.

“Quite often there is a misconception when a general enquiry office is closed and people think the station is no longer operational.

"This is not the case.

“In the last decade there have been many changes in technology resulting in significant changes to the way people are contacting the police.

“Now with the advent of social media, and the internet, more and more people are using social media as a contact mechanism.

"At the beginning of 2018 we introduced a dedicated social media desk, allowing the public the ability to contact us online 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to report non-emergency incidents online, or to ask for advice.

"In the last 14 months the desk has dealt with an average of 2500 contacts per month and demand has increased by 170 per cent.

“We do appreciate though that not everyone will want to talk to us on social media, so we are looking at the different ways that our communities contact us in their totality to ensure that we come up with a sustainable solution to enable the public to contact us when they need us."

Plans are underway to open a new CPS on Carr Bridge Road in Woodchurch and Garston Walk-in Centre in Church Road, Liverpool, with one due to open at Ainsdale Railway Station.

Ms Kennedy continued: "We will listen to feedback from our communities before we make future decisions.

“Any decisions we make will not be made lightly, but it must be remembered that since 2010 the force has lost £103m and more than 1,100 officers and staff due to funding cuts.

"We have already made a lot of hard decisions, but the impact of these cuts is continuing and the decisions we are having to make are getting harder.

"But I can assure the public of St Helens and Merseyside that our duty to protect the public remains our primary aim and we will continue to deliver the best possible service we physically can with the budget and the resources we have.”

In Wirral, Birkenhead police station will be open between 8am to 10pm Monday to Saturday and 8am to 5pm on Sundays.

Wallasey police station will open Monday to Saturday between 8am and 10pm and closed on a Sunday.

List of community police stations in Wirral:

  • Hoylake Community Centre, Hoyle Road
  • Moreton Library/One Stop Shop, Pasture Road
  • St James Centre, Laird Street, Birkenhead, Wirral
  • Rock Ferry Library / One Stop Shop, 259 Old Chester Road, Rock Ferry
  • Heswall Library / One Stop Shop, Telegraph Road, Heswall
  • Conway Building One Stop Shop, Conway Street, Birkenhead
  • Bebington Police Station, Civic Way, Bebington