Assistant Commissioner Northern Operations Service Graeme Barton said he was appalled by last week’s front page article of the Northern Argus which was based on unconfirmed rumours.

“I am very concerned about the misleading headline and the fact that you didn’t contact senior police about this,” Mr Barton said.

He said while the article included a response from State Police Minister Michael Wright denying the closure, the Northern Argus should have spoken to senior police for a response.

“I am concerned that you didn’t speak to the people who make the operational decisions,” Mr Barton said.

“Things like that are very emotional in a small country town.

“We’re not planning to close any police station at this point in time.”

Mr Barton said if the current police officer left the position at Spalding, SA Police would advertise to fill the vacancy.

“With some stations there are challenges (filling vacancies), with others there are not,” Mr Barton said.

“Normally with one or two person stations, we don’t have a lot of trouble filling them.”

In last week’s Northern Argus article, Police Minister, Michael Wright said: “The Government has no plans to close the Spalding Police Station now or in the future.”