Pictured: Former policemen Mike Jordan and John McHugh outside Sutton Coldfield Police Station

Two former policemen who now work in an office across the road from Sutton Coldfield’s threatened police station claim it will be a ‘disaster’ for the Royal Town if it closes.

Mike Jordan served in West Midlands Police before setting up Jordan Financial Management, which is based in the Guildhall, opposite the Lichfield Road station.

Now he and colleague John McHugh – who served with the Metropolitan Police until 2010 – warn closing the station will impact on how local officers deal with crime.

Mr Jordan said: “I was part of D Division, working at Erdington and Sutton Coldfield and I know how important it is for the police to have a proper local station based in the heart of the community.

“It’s vital that police officers are based locally, so that they get to know an area, learn about the issues there, identify the criminals they deal with regularly and crucially share that intelligence with each other on a daily basis.

“Without a fully-manned station containing mobile patrols, beat officers, neighbourhood officers and a local intelligence officer then the team and functions required to provide effective policing that protects the public and solves and deters crime will not be there.

“Policing in Sutton Coldfield will just become a crime-data collation exercise with criminals being given the freedom to strike at will with no effective deterrent and very little prospect of being caught.”

The current building, which opened in 1960, was one of many earmarked for closure by Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson.

Mr Jamieson, who stands down in May, has said that the town centre will retain a station, possibly on a different site - with a front desk - but local leaders including Sutton MP Andrew Mitchell have expressed fears the service will be downsized.

Former Met officer Mr McHugh, 33 - whose father Arthur served with West Midlands Police for 30 years and spent a decade working at Sutton Police station – said officers need be based in the community to fully understand its needs.

“We have a tradition of ‘policing by consent’ in this country, and in order for that to work, police need to be part of the community, not an external force coming in from somewhere else,” he said.

“It’s also about having a bricks-and-mortar visual presence, which deters criminals and reassures residents. If Sutton Coldfield loses a proper police station it will be a disaster – and we just don’t know enough about what could replace it.”

Mr Jordan, whose company celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, added: “People in Sutton Coldfield pay a great deal in taxes and rightly expect to have a fully-resourced police station.

“But if the station closes, I honestly think that local people will be even more out of pocket, because crime will go up, and they will have to spend more on their own security and higher insurance premiums.”