Salisbury Journal:

THE HIGH cost of transferring prisoners from Salisbury to Melksham is revealed by the Journal today at a time when it is claimed by the Police Federation that the bobby on the beat is becoming an “endangered species”.

The lack of a custody suite in the City has been the source of discontent since the Wilton Road cells were closed nearly a year ago. Now we know the cost of transporting prisoners to Melksham in the short eight months between their closure in June last year and March this year is more than £300,000. If the cost remained at the current rate it would spiral to £450,000 in a year – equal to having 18 more beat bobbies available in the county.

The news came as the Police Federation held its annual meeting in Bournemouth and were told by Chairman Steve White that neighbourhood policing was “just one of the endangered species in the new streamlined barren policing landscape”.

At a time when frontline police services are under pressure neither money or resources should be wasted on transferring prisoners 30 miles from Salisbury to Melksham.

Those associated with crime control and the delivery of justice in the city have been petitioning for a custody suite since the closure of the Wilton police station.

They have been reassured many times that a plan is in place, but have been disappointed an equal number of times by policy switches and delay. Wiltshire Police have a self-imposed deadline now to report to the county’s Police Crime Commissioner on their proposed solution. It is May 26th. No more disappointments please.