A CONTROVERSIAL police station will remain open despite its trial being an 'absolute' failure, the borough's top cop said this week.

Chief Superintendent Duncan Jarrett reaffirmed his commitment to keeping Pinner station open, at least temporarily, despite only four people calling on police business in its 16-week trial.

He said: "We have extended the trial to January for the people who have said they want it kept open. Yet in the 16 weeks it's been open, we have had just 11 callers and from these only four have been connected to core police business."

He added: "I wouldn't use the term failure as you can't measure public reassurance, and we may be successful in giving people the reassurance of having the station open."

Pinner station has been at the centre of an ongoing debate since it was closed last year, only to be re-opened after the murder of a neighbourhood family man.

The summer opening was on a trial-only basis and the public have access to front-counter staff on Wednesdays. Chief Supt Jarrett also said he intends to look at recruiting volunteer staff to man the station.

Anthony Woods, chairman of the Police Sector for the Working Group of Pinner, applauded the Chief Superintendent's commitment to public confidence.

However, he said: "Chief Supt Jarrett has to decide whether it is better to have police officers sat behind desks answering less than two calls an afternoon or having them out on the streets catching the criminals.

"If they want to have civilians working in the station, they are firstly going to have to increase the rate of pay to have anybody coming forward."

Mr Woods said 90 per cent of calls made to the station could be dealt with by civilians.

Officers at Pinner police station were also pleased with the trial's extension and said the counter would continue to be open to the public every Wednesday from 4.30pm to 7.30pm.

A station spokesman said: "We may not have had many calls, although these have certainly picked up recently, but we would definitely not say that the station has been a failure."

The trial extension ends on January 9, 2002.