Wimbledon police station could be saved from closure after police announced a review into the decision today.
In a statement to Merton council’s Overview and Scrutiny Commission, police Chief Superintendent Sally Benatar said the review of the decision to outsource Merton’s policing to nearby Mitcham and Earlsfield was taking place.
Councillor and Wimbledon Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Paul Kohler vowed to campaign for the preservation of a police station in Wimbledon and against closures in other boroughs following a vicious gang attack in 2014 he says would have killed him if the police had not arrived within eight minutes.
Mr Kohler said: “I welcome Chief Superintendent Benatar’s decision to review how police resources are utilised across Merton and Wandsworth.”
He continued: “I know from personal experience how important Wimbledon Police Station is to keep our neighbourhoods safe.
“My successful legal action to halt the closure of Wimbledon police station has given our local police the breathing space they desperately needed to reconsider how police resources are used across the two boroughs.
“This review will provide an important opportunity to consider more imaginative approaches to the provision of police resources across the two boroughs, and I am confident that it will establish the importance of preserving our police station here in Wimbledon.
“The case for retaining Wimbledon Police Station is a strong one, as I have stressed repeatedly in my representations to the Mayor of London and local police chiefs.
“I strongly urge Chief Superintendent Benatar to re-examine this case as part of her review and guarantee the long-term future of Wimbledon Police Station.”
In 2018 Conservative candidate James Holmes said: “Closing Wimbledon police station would be an utter disaster for our community, we should do all we can to keep it open.”
Though the review does not guarantee the Wimbledon station will remain open it does mean the debate is ongoing. Chief Superintendent Benatar said an increasing scale of work over the past 11 months triggered the review.
