NO critical police staff will be moving out of Southampton when the Central Police Station closes for work, it has been confirmed. 

The Investigation Centre in Southern Road will be closed for a year with work expected to begin in 2023. 

The site only opened 11 years ago and works will see the 36-cell custody block out of action for four months and some staff moved out of the city to other areas. 

But now it has been confirmed that Southampton policing will not be impacted. 

Read more: Police base launches in Southampton to boost response times and increase presence

Speaking from the force's new response and patrol base in Bitterne, Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones said: "There is no way that Hampshire Constabulary will be moving critical police response out of Southampton. 

"The people of Southampton have got nothing to worry about. We are going to be working with the council on this to make sure there is a front desk that stays in the centre of Southampton for people to go and report crime. 

"The front line police officers that are a Southampton resource will be staying in the centre of Southampton, or Redbridge or potentially Portswood."

The commissioner added that those that will move to other localtions will be the support services that also work at the station such as IT staff. 

The areas suggested by the commissioner for those people to be moved to were Lymington, Havant, Waterlooville and Winchester. 

The move comes as concerns have been raised about rising crimes in the city.

But now with the new base in Bitterne and further resources including off-road bikes for police, Ben Snuggs, Deputy Chief Constable at Hampshire Constabulary has said the force is focused on tackling anti-social behaviour and other crimes in the city. 

"It’s a tragedy when anybody is a victim of crime regardless of what that crime is and particularly for people who are experiencing anti-social behaviour whether it’s noise nuisance, whether it’s motorcycles and e-scooters.

"It really does blight communities. One of our priorities is absolutely about tackling these quite hard things."

Commissioner Jones added: "It is a tragedy when anyone’s a victim of crime however when it comes to the most serious and impactful type of crime such as rape, sexual assaults, murder, attempted murders, Hampshire Constabulary’s got an excellent record of actually detecting, catching people and getting them to court and through the justice system."

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