MERSEYSIDE Police have changed the opening hours of General Enquiry Offices (GEOs) following 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.

It also discovered that frontline police officers were regularly having to cover in the GEOs in order to keep them open to the public, meaning officers were taken off the streets in Merseyside, preventing them from responding to emergency incidents.

Additional staff have been recruited to man the stations.

Deputy chief constable Serena Kennedy, said: “The GEO service is only one way in which the public can contact us, we have community police stations across Merseyside and at the start of last year we introduced a dedicated social media desk in our call centre giving the public the ability to contact us online 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to report non-emergency incidents, or to ask for advice.

"In the last 14 months the desk has dealt with an average of 2,500 contacts every month.

“The review we have conducted on the GEOs has shown that the number of people visiting the offices has declined year on year and people just aren’t using them like they used to, preferring to contact us via other means.

"We clearly need to consider this as we continue to look at how we best engage with our communities in the most efficient and effective way.

“It’s really important for us to get the right offer for our local communities and that needs to balance their needs with the demand we see for services.

"We can then put our resources in the right places.

"Quite often people believe that when a general enquiry office is closed the police station is no longer operational. This is not the case.

“We will continue to review how our communities can contact us to ensure that we can provide an offer that meets their needs and ensures the most effective use of force resources.

“Any decisions we make will not be made lightly, but it must be remembered that since 2010 the force has lost £110m and more than 1600 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 people of 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 10am to 6pm Monday to Saturday.

Wallasey police station will open Monday to Friday between 10am and 6pm.

Residents will also have access to Community Police Stations (CPS)

CPS in Wirral:

  • Hoylake Community Centre, Hoyle Road (2pm to 4pm & 6pm to 8pm (times alternate weekly) Wednesdays)
  • Moreton Library/One Stop Shop, Pasture Road (1pm to 3pm, Wednesdays)
  • St James Centre, Laird Street, Birkenhead, Wirral (11am to 1pm, Fridays)
  • Rock Ferry Library / One Stop Shop, 259 Old Chester Road, Rock Ferry (10am to 12pm, Mondays)
  • Heswall Library / One Stop Shop, Telegraph Road, Heswall (10am to 12pm, Wednesdays)
  • Conway Building One Stop Shop, Conway Street, Birkenhead (10am to 12pm, every three weeks, days vary)
  • Carrbridge Centre, Woodchurch (Opening soon)