THIS is a sad sight – and site – for sore eyes, isn’t it? It’s the former Rochford police station in South Street and it has been abandoned and boarded for the past 18 months or so.

This year marks its centenary. The boys in blue – there weren’t policewomen, back then – moved into it in 1915, when their original headquarters in North Street were at first due to become a retirement home for old coppers, but were turned instead into the town’s post office.

When a new divisional police headquarters was built and opened in Southend’s Alexandra Street in 1865, Rochford became a sub-division. Years on, the Southend building and its three neighbouring courtrooms were demolished and the new HQ moved to its present site in Victoria Avenue.

Times have changed dramatically in the policing of Essex and elsewhere in recent years. Police and Crime Commisioners were introduced by Parliament three years ago come this November.

They are charged with setting budgets and policing priorities, appointing Chief Constables and generally overseeing the work of the force.

Locally, to help to balance the books, the Rochford property was closed, abandoned. It is a sorry sight indeed today.