- Conference
- 2014 Police & Justice Conference
- Date
- 26 June 2014
- Decision
- Carried
Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) are the backbone of Neighbourhood Policing.
Due to the abstraction of Neighbourhood Police Officers to support response teams and no longer carrying out any proactive work, this is placing the onus evermore on our overworked PCSO members.
What is the future for Neighbourhood Policing?
Since this coalition government came to power in 2010 over 3,500 PCSO posts have been lost, already some 20% higher than the total number the Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabularies (HMIC’s) research predicted would be cut by the end of this Parliament.
Ministers have consistently maintained that there is adequate funding to protect the front line – this is clearly not the case.
The majority of Chief Officers and Police and Crime Commissioners have committed to maintaining and developing Neighbourhood Policing, but are finding this increasingly difficult due to the severity of the budget cuts.
Conference therefore calls upon the Service Group Executive to work with the Home Office, Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) in an effort to reverse these swingeing cuts, to protect and sustain Neighbourhood Policing into the future.