ARRESTS in Salisbury are down by 40 per cent since the closure of Salisbury Police Station in Wilton Road, the Journal can reveal.

The station closed in June and from July to October there were 427 arrests across the six Salisbury beat areas - compared to 719 for the same period last year.

Almost 75 per cent of this reduction was in the St Paul’s and Churchfields area - which includes Wilton Road - with arrests down from 284 to just 67.

Wiltshire Police says the sharp drop is due to many arrests having taken place solely at the station such as people arrested elsewhere in Salisbury being brought into the custody unit and then being arrested for other offences.

However across the other five beat codes, arrests are down by around a fifth.

In Bemerton Heath, they are down by 31 to 45 – a 41 per cent decrease.

In Castle Road and Bishopdown, they are down by three to 39 – a seven per cent decrease.

In Friary and Southampton Road, they are down by 14 to 29 – a 33 per cent decrease.

In Harnham they are down by 13 to 20 – a 40 per cent decrease.

And in Salisbury City Centre arrests are down by 14 to 227 – a six per cent decrease.

Since June a prisoner transport team or police officers have to take detainees on an hour-long trip to use the custody facilities in Melksham.

Salisbury Police Inspector Dave Minty said: “The reduction is not down to any reduction in the levels of policing but the significant number of arrests which took place in the old police station. For example, people answering bail at Wilton Road who were then re-arrested for additional offences or people attending for interview who were then arrested.

“The decrease in the volume of arrests within the area which included Wilton Road accounts for three quarters of the reduction seen across the wider Salisbury area.

“The remaining 25 per cent reduction elsewhere in Salisbury is considered by our analysts to be a normal variation and therefore not statistically significant.”

Wiltshire Police Federation Mike White, who warned there had been a “significant drop” in the number of arrests last week said the federation was working with Wiltshire Police to understand the reasons for the reduction and a detailed analysis of the figures would be completed in mid-January.