TRADERS are calling for more police patrols of Halesowen town centre after recent cuts have coincided in increased crime.

The Chamber of Trade is also seeking assurances that the town’s police station is not going to close – although the front desk shut down permanently last Saturday (February 28).

Chamber chairman Wayne Edwards said it appeared the town centre was now relying on one sergeant and two police community support officers.

Vice chairman Steve Fitzpatrick told last week’s meeting the town was also missing out on officers walking through en route to covering their beats.

He said: “With more officers being moved to Brierley Hill Police Station, it makes us wonder what the future holds for our police station, which is being used less and less.

“We would like re-assurances that it is not going to close completely.”

Chamber members also expressed concern that anti-social behaviour around the bus station was prevalent and a police investigation into child sexual exploitation had not yet been concluded.

They said the majority of crime happened in the evenings and at night, although members also believe some daytime crime, notably shoplifting, goes unreported.

Belle Vale councillor Ian Cooper, who attended the meeting as a guest, said he would investigate concerns that CCTV turntables were not working, which members said was reducing the capabilities of capturing vandals and criminals on camera.

The recently refurbished Maybrook House car park had been wrecked by vandals who daubed graffiti over all the freshly painted walls, just days after the month-long work had been completed last month.

Chamber secretary and Halesowen in Bloom chairman Eve O’Connor said she “nearly wept” when she saw the damage.

Ex-offenders from the community payback team who carried out the original work, have returned to paint over the graffiti, but Mrs O’Connor said the finish was not as good.

“It must have taken the vandal hours to commit that amount of vandalism. If there had been police in town, they would have caught them.”

The chamber is to push for more traders to sign up to the radio link run by the Dudley Borough Business Community Partnership to improve communications between retailers enabling warnings of criminal activity to be spread rapidly.

Members also receive a booklet of mug shots of known offenders.

The chamber is hoping to hold a meeting with the police to discuss crime and patrol levels.

Inspector Jamie Hobday said the neighbourhood policing team that covers Quarry Bank and Dudley Wood had been moved to Brierley Hill Police Station to be closer to tghe area they serve.

He added: “The two neighbourhood teams that have traditionally covered Halesowen town centre continue to do so and continue to work from Halesowen Police Station. West Midlands Police are committed to local officers policing their local communities."