By Conor Sharkey
THE closure of Donemana Police Station is just the latest step towards it becoming a forgotten village, a leading community figure warned this week.
An advertisement in this week's paper has revealed that the PSNI are to carry out a formal public consultation period on proposals to close stations in both Newtownstewart and Dunamanagh. The proposals are part of a NI wide review of police estates.
Some politicians have voiced concerns that the closure of rural police stations could lead to an upsurge in crime. And while this view is shared by Dunamanagh community leader Tommy Allen, he fears the closure could also lead to a further loss in identity for the picturesque Tyrone village.
Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Allen, a volunteer with the village's Amity House for the past 20 years said he would be strongly in favour of the retention of the local police station.
"I know these are only proposals at the minute, but you usually find when it gets to this stage, the decision has already been taken, so it is definitely a cause for concern.
"I suppose the main worry for older people like myself in the village is that if a crime committed or your house is burgled, then you will have to wait 20 or 30 minutes for the PSNI to arrive from Strabane.
"Personally I would like to see a greater physical police presence on the streets, especially in the evening, but if they shut the station, we won't even have somewhere to walk into if we need information or help with anything.
"They seem to be leaving rural areas very scarce on police stations and if they take this one out of Dunamanagh, there will be very little left.
"We are short on resources as it is, with this week's announcement that the post office is to close and I fear Dunamanagh is being left behind. We are always asking what is going to close next, our schools? They seem to be just taking away from us all the time and it is definitely a worrying development for people here," Mr Allen said.
Those concerns were echoed by local shopkeeper Sam McBeth who said even the presence of the police station put minds at risk among villagers.
"The station might not be manned all the time, but criminals don't know that. We have a had a bit of crime wave in this area in recent months and when you work in a shop, it's always in the back of your mind that you could be held up or robbed.
"If they do take the station away, it would mean waiting half an hour for police to arrive from Strabane or wherever, but our local station is within five minutes of anywhere in Dunamanagh. In the centre of the village we have always been fairly crime free and you have to wonder if that is because of the station. It does put minds at rest among local people and I for one can see more reasons for keeping it than scrapping it," Mr McBeth said.
