These two photos show the old Beckenham Police Station, and the new Safer Neighbourhood Team office. The old Police Station was opened sometime around 1885 and served the public 24 hours a day until sometime in the 1980s it moved to reduced hours, and then finally closed in 2007. Whether such change is a good or bad thing is debatable: on the one hand the old station offered a local visible police presence where you could walk in at any time but on the other we now have mobile phones, email and so are more remotely accessible and the police themselves are much more mobile.
But didn’t the old station have some presence….even if wheelchairs users couldn’t use it.
anomiepete 
I still remember those old police boxes – like extra-large telephone kiosks.
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