Ongar: Former police station up for sale

The former police station at Ongar is to go up for sale as Essex Police and the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner continue to realise resources to invest in the front line and use your money wisely to put more officers on the streets.

The former police station in High Street, Ongar closed to the public in 2011 and our intention to sell it formed part of our 2015 public announcements.

Our officers and staff will continue to be visible and accessible to the Ongar community – as they are now.

As has been well publicised since 2015, we have continued to sell parts of our estate that are old, inefficient, out of date or not best geographically placed to serve the needs of our communities. Some also require a significant investment to maintain as well as to bring them up to a standard fit for the purpose of modern policing.

Whilst we have sold some buildings, we have: invested in refurbishing strategically placed police stations that can serve our communities and remain publicly accessible; invested in shared co-locations with our partners to ensure financial efficiency and enhance partnership working; and continued to invest in a police service that is visible and accessible to all our communities with more than 3,600 officers currently protecting and serving Essex.

We want officers out in their communities – both rural, urban and coastal – not behind a desk because it is police officers that catch criminals, protect victims and prevent crime.

In addition to the accessibility and visibility of our officers, we have worked hard to make ourselves more available to the public. We continue to:

• Operate a number of police stations across the county which are open to the public;
• Have a digital 101 service on our website for people to report crime as well as a Live Chat function
• Routinely hold and attend meetings with our public in addition to engaging with them when we are out and about; 

We have also created our new e-newsletter called Dispatch which gives people regular weekly updates about how we have secured justice and continue to protect you, our public.

Chief Inspector Tina Cooper, District Commander for Brentwood and Epping Forest, which covers Ongar, said:

“We know that police stations are symbolically important, but the reality is it is police officers who catch criminals, protect victims, prevent crime and engage with our communities.
“The community want local, visible and accessible policing, and that is what they continue to have in Ongar where our officers are out every day.
“These dedicated officers continue to respond to emergencies, investigate crimes and work to resolve local problems.
“They also work alongside partners to protect people from harm and prevent crime occurring and the sale of the former police station will make no difference to the good service we provide to our public.”

Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, said:

“Police officers prevent crime and keep people safe, not buildings, and there are now more police officers in Essex than ever before, protecting our community.
"This is because of both our and the Government’s continued investment in policing over the past five years. The sale of the former Ongar police station, which hasn’t been open to the public for more than a decade, will bring significant money back into the Force which will be invested straight back into frontline policing.”

The Essex Police front counter at Harlow is staffed by Essex Police employees from 9am to 5pm Monday to Sunday.

Do you want to report non-emergency crime, antisocial behaviour or tell us about suspicious behaviour in your community?

You can report it online or use our Live Chat service.

Live Chat is an online service available on our website Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays) between 10am-9pm. You can send and receive real-time direct messages with a digital 101 operator.

To use the service, select the ‘Live Chat’ icon at the bottom right of your screen when you're on our website. It can be accessed from a desktop computer, laptop, tablet or mobile phone.

We still have our 24-hour 101 service which people can call if they feel it is more appropriate to speak to us or don't have access to the internet.

Remember if a crime is happening now and someone is in immediate danger, call 999.

If you have a hearing or speech impairment, use our textphone service 18000 or text us on 999 if you’ve pre-registered with the emergencySMS service.

You can also contact an officer, member of staff or team through our website, submit a general enquiry or provide feedback.

We're offering even more ways of keeping up-to-date with our work across Essex through our weekly e-newsletter, called Dispatch. 

Dispatch provides our communities with a weekly overview of news from Essex Police, along with crime prevention advice, information about our latest job vacancies, top tweets from our a selection of our Twitter accounts and lots more.

Dispatch is a digital newsletter which means once you sign up, it's sent directly to your email inbox. It's completely free and you can unsubscribe at any time. 

Sign up today and stay up-to-date with how our officers, staff and volunteers are helping people across Essex, keeping you safe and catching criminals.