Scrapping police community support officers is short-sighted

Dave Prentis urges the Home Secretary to intervene

UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis has today (Friday) written to the Home Secretary Amber Rudd, urging her to intervene to stop the scrapping of police community support officers in Norfolk.

In the letter he said: “This is an extremely short-sighted move by the Norfolk constabulary.

“Police community support officers play a vital role maintaining police and community relations. They also tackle low-level crime and anti-social behaviour, which would otherwise fall to hard-pressed police officers to deal with.

“Ruthless budget cuts are forcing police forces to make unsavoury choices, which damage public confidence and coerce already over-burdened police staff into taking on yet more responsibilities.

“I urge you to intervene in the matter and call for a rethink in the approach to police budgets – the protection of the public is in everyone’s interest.”

Media contacts:
Liz Chinchen M: 07778 158175 E: press@unison.co.uk
Siobhan Cooley T:0207 1215555 M: 079038 70786 E: s.cooley@unison.co.uk