Arundel move should speed traffic police response

Sussex Police’s road policing base for West Sussex has been moved from its former home in Chichester, with the aim of cutting the time it takes officers to reach the scene of crashes and other emergencies.

The police station, in The Causeway, will be the home of a fleet of high performance cars, top-of-the-range forensic equipment and undercover motorcycles.

The move to the town – which was officially celebrated on Friday (June 1) – has been hailed by police chiefs from across the area as the perfect choice.

Inspector Phil Nicolas, who will be heading up the team, said: “This has been a fantastic move for the force.

“We found that working from Chichester proved to be very difficult. We felt that response times, for some of the county, were too high.

“However, by coming to Arundel, it puts us right in the heart of the area. We have easy access to the A27 which dramatically slashes our response times.

“It also helps to reduce the pressure on officers, who would normally have to travel unnecessarily-long distances, to reach some calls.”

Officers based at the site are responsible for responding to calls from across the area, and cover roads in Chichester, Arun, Horsham, Adur and Worthing districts.

Chief Supt Paul Morrison, head of operations for Sussex Police, said the force would be more efficient and effective because of the move. “This base is a real golden nugget for us and has been a long time coming.”

The launch coincided with the force’s roll-out of its latest drink-drive campaign. Officers will be cracking down on drink driving during the Olympics and Euro 2012 events. Police are urging mobile phone users to report people they think are drink-driving, or about to drink-drive, by text message, to the number 65999.