Councillors vowing to stand up against plans to base Beds Police officers in supermarkets saw their petition backed over the weekend.
Leighton-Linslade Town Councillors fighting against the closure of police stations across the county say they had 800 signatures on Saturday morning at the Market Square after hiring a stall to gauge public opinion.
Speaking to the LBO following Saturday’s event, Councillor David Bowater said: “It was pretty fantastic to see so many people turn out in support of the petition.
“We are following it up later this week by going door to door because we are pushing for 5,000 signatures.
“When we spoke to people about Mr Martins saying people could contact the police via a video link on Skype to officers in a supermarket, it was met with laughter.
“I mean, he cannot be serious. We cannot get him to admit he will spend any money in Leighton Buzzard, but we are the biggest town in Central Beds. We would be losing a pretty excellent facility in the town.
“Mr Martins has three million good reasons to close our police station but we wish he would spend that on policing for Leighton Buzzard.”
Leighton-Linslade Mayor, Councillor Amanda Dodwell, said: “We welcome the recently announced consultation on the future of policing in our town.
“Many of the town’s councillors feel that the changes to policing in the town that came into effect last autumn have had an adverse impact, and we want to ensure that the views of local people are taken into account before any further changes are made.
“Whilst accepting that Bedfordshire Police are facing severe financial pressures, it is important that we have a permanent police presence in the town, and we are campaigning for our fair share of the resources.
“We acknowledge that the PCC has a difficult job, but he has a responsibility for the whole county, and not just Luton and Bedford.
“We are committed to working with the local police, and we hope that Mr Martins will take on board what the people of Leighton-Linslade have to say.”