Another stop for the abandoned police station express and this time its Christchurch Police Station and Juvenile Court! I had been to this station to have a look a few times before it actually closed and shortly after it closed. For a while the back half was still being used by CID however the front half and front desk was all closed and abandoned.
There were squatters there as soon as it closed and there are still some people living there now, both in tents outside and also in the building itself. From walking around the place it was obvious quite a few people had been living in there for some time. I came across a room full of fresh food all in boxes and fresh bouquets of flowers along with bedding and personal belongings. I have never had a problem with squatters before however I did find a large length of timber just in case I needed to go last of the Samurai on some hippies.
The annoying thing about this location is that the one building is actually two joined buildings with literally one door to lead you from one to the other. This is the door the prisoners would have had to go through when going from the cells into the court room. The door in question was screwed shut and was near the access area of the squatters so it wasn’t appropriate at the time for a bit of carpentry haha… another day maybe. The half which is accessible, where our squatting friends are living is the side which contained the main desk, juvenile court room and many office type rooms. The cells and custody suite and the more interesting side is unfortunately at the moment pretty well secured. I am pretty sure I can get in the other half and will be giving it a go soon, hopefully when all the squatters have fucked off and I can have a proper look at this door. There are a load of garages round in the back yard area full with various items just discarded when the police left such as computers, office equipment, highway equipment… getting quite used to seeing empty police buildings now full of items brought by the taxpayer just discarded when they move. Still moaning how skint they are though, fucking idiots.
Although pretty stripped and empty, hence why there won’t be a video on this one, this station was still brilliant just because of the court rooms. The size of the place is quite impressive too. Completely different from the ones we did in Southampton but still a great explore!
Below is some information shamelessly taken off the BBC news website about the police station…
A Dorset town’s police station is set for closure as part of cost-saving measures.
The sale of Christchurch police station in the Bargates is expected to save Dorset Police £80,000 a year in operating costs.
The force is in talks to base police personnel at the town’s fire station.
Chief Constable Debbie Simpson said: “We are committed to providing the best possible service to the public while achieving the required savings.”
Police and crime commissioner Martyn Underhill said: “I would like to assure people in Christchurch that we are committed to local neighbourhood policing and that police officers will still operate in the heart of Christchurch.”
Tony Tester, of Dorset Police Federation, said the closure was a consequence of the cuts to policing by the government and frontline policing was “already at tipping point”.
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