Express & Star comment: Attitude to crime will cost the Government
The police station closure programme in the West Midlands has been about as popular as an outbreak of cholera.
While senior figures in the force talk about saving money and the need to meet budgetary constraints, ordinary members of the public despair as officers and police stations disappear from view.
There is surely no better example of the legacy of this short-sighted scheme than Walsall police station, which police chiefs warn has become an unofficial playground.
The dilapidated building on Green Lane has been empty for nearly two years, an early casualty of a controversial programme that will eventually see more than 50 police bases close.
Now it appears that youths are regularly breaking in to the site and using it as a play area, putting their lives at risk in the process. This is an absolutely shameful state of affairs.
A once fine symbol of authority has been left to wrack and ruin, and now serves as little more than a depressing monument to a largely unwanted scheme.
It is a scene that is repeated all across the region, where the police presence diminishes by the week.
As far as the old Walsall police station is concerned, this is by no means an isolated incident.
Police have previously been alerted to trespassers on the site. There has also been an arson attack, numerous metal thefts and sightings of youngsters riding bikes on the roof.
Crime continues to rise in the West Midlands, with murders – including multiple stabbings and shootings – expected to hit record levels by the end of the year.
Perhaps one day in the distant future, someone in authority will look back on this period and reason that slashing officer numbers and closing down police stations was not the wisest idea.
For the time being, no-one in Government seems to have the will to make the changes necessary to make our streets and communities safe.
We hear plenty of tough talk, but see very little action.
Meanwhile Theresa May dithers in the background, her energies focused on a Chequers plan for Brexit that hardly anyone wants.
Such an appalling dereliction of duty on the part of the Government is unlikely to be forgotten the next time voters visit the ballot box.
