Wandsworth could lose all but one of its front counters at police stations in the borough as the Met (Met) looks to axe frontline services to save money.

The authority is consulting members of the public on plans to cut some of its 138 counters across London - prompting a claim the public could become cut off from the police.

It is proposing a minimum of one counter per borough which will be open 24 hours a day throughout the week. This is part of a larger consultation into how people contact the police.

Chairman of the Wandsworth Community Safety Trust and former policeman, Jim Madden, said: "There's a side that people would like the reassurance somewhere within the town centre where they can go if they have a problem and the front office provides that resource.

"There are other sides of the issue which also need to be considered. While there's someone in the police station fulfilling that role - from experience - a lot of the time they are under-employed. The public also want to see people patrolling the street.

"They will not disappear as a base for police officers but there's a question whether the front door will be open at a time when people need to go in there."

Councillor Madden, who is also chairman of the National Neighbourhood Watch Network, said no members had yet raised concerns with him, adding they "would rather see police officers patrolling the streets where they live".

However, Tooting MP Sadiq Khan said: "Residents regularly raise access to the police as a concern on the doorstep - they want it to be easier to report crime and speak to police officers face-to-face about crime.

"This review could cut the public off from the police, make them less accessible and approachable, and undermine the community policing approach that saw crime drop under the last Labour government."

According to the Met, last year only 14 per cent of crimes were reported through front counters and 66 per cent were reported over the phone. Neighbouring force, Surrey Police, has opted to axe front desks and roll out a mobile van, which will travel to different towns in the area offering residents access to officers.

Detective Superintendent Gerry Campbell, of Wandsworth police, said the Met needed to make "exceptionally difficult decisions" in order to make financial cuts. He said there would still be many ways to report crime, and insisted safer neighbourhood teams provided "a very bespoke service".

Det Supt Campbell added: "It is the need to serve the community versus the need to have operational officers fully involved and engaged and not, hypothetically, in a police office which only sees one member of the public over a long period of time."

Wandsworth has two 24-hour front desks at Battersea and Wandsworth police stations. There are also front desk services in Lavender Hill and Tooting.

The Met was running an online survey into how the public access police services which finished on May 30. However, no decisions will be taken until the consultation has finished this summer.

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