Jump to content

BBC: Plans to cut PCSO numbers by 78% in West Midlands announced


sparkydale

Recommended Posts

Plans to cut PCSO numbers by 78% in West Midlands announced

  • 23 minutes ago
  •  
  • From the section England
West Midlands Police headquarters Image captionThe force said it was now entering into a formal consultation period with trade unions and staff

The number of police community support officers (PCSOs) in the West Midlands could fall by 78% by 2020 under proposals announced by police.

Plans to cut their number to 119 were "hugely regrettable but unavoidable," said West Midlands Police (WMP).

Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said PCSOs would be the first expected casualty of the government's "continued attack on policing".

The Home Office said police still had sufficient resources to do their work. 

Changes made by the government since 2010 have made it "easier for the police to do their job" by cutting red tape and scrapping unnecessary targets, the spokesman said.

What matters is "how officers are deployed and not how many of them there are in total", he added.

Updates on this story and more from Birmingham & the Black Country

WMP said it has 674 PCSO posts, of which 139 are currently vacant and not being advertised.

These latest plans would see their number fall from 535 to 119.

WMP said it has to make savings of £130m during the next five years, and that its "wholesale review of local policing" was part of a wider policing plan.

'Difficult choices'

It said it had faced "unprecedented cuts since 2010" and seen more than £146m shaved off its budget.

Given that wages represent more than 80% of costs, Mr Jamieson warned there was "only so much" it could do "without making difficult choices". 

The scale and pace of the proposed changes are dependent on a number of factors, including the government's Comprehensive Spending Review later this month, the force said. 

Deputy Chief Constable David Thompson said he remained clear that his force was "not pulling away from working closely" with its communities.

Jill Harrison, West Midlands Police Unison branch secretary, said PCSOs had been "a real success in keeping the public safe and working to reduce crime".

She warned: "Clearly the only people that are going to be happy about this are the criminals themselves." 

The force said it was now entering into a formal consultation period, lasting a minimum of 45 days, with trade unions and staff.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-34778430

 

 

I'm not sure if I can also post the West Mids announcement in full, so here's a link:

https://www.west-midlands.police.uk/latest-news/news2.aspx?id=3746

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We need these cuts and to be honest, I think if somethings got to go then it's the pcso, I think it's the right decision and if I was incharge they would of already gone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's perhaps the closest thing that you've said to something that I can agree with. I would however be scared and look to move if ever you were in charge of something with a chance of affecting my life.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, AA101 said:

That's perhaps the closest thing that you've said to something that I can agree with. I would however be scared and look to move if ever you were in charge of something with a chance of affecting my life.

Maybe I'm wrong then

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We need these cuts and to be honest, I think if somethings got to go then it's the pcso, I think it's the right decision and if I was incharge they would of already gone.

What would you save/keep. Even increase?

Sent from me using Witchcraft

Link to comment
Share on other sites

PCSOs were bought in the fill a gap left by the lack of neighbourhood PCs, now PCSOs are gone. All round a terrible time for policing in the UK, the cuts are brutal, however the real tragedy is PCSOs were never given enough powers to do their job properly anyway so the role was doomed to fail from the start. I feel sorry for the people who will be losing their jobs but the role was never well thought out or implemented anyway. As an ex-PCSO my experience is the good PCSOs weren't good because of the role, it's because they were proactive people who went beyond what the role required of them. 

Edited by mike88
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you cut by 78% are the remainder actually going to be enough in number to perform a worthwhile task or are they a token presence because no CC dares completely abolish the role?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, AnthonyB said:

If you cut by 78% are the remainder actually going to be enough in number to perform a worthwhile task or are they a token presence because no CC dares completely abolish the role?

Oh don't worry they'll be gone in the next set of cuts. It really is the end for them. I think it's great, they were always seen as a bit of a joke anyway. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No brainer to be honest. Most of the police budget is made up of salaries. PCSO's are a luxury, where's the sense in reducing warranted officer but keeping PCSO's? I agree with Mr Smith, they'll be all but gone in a few years.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 10 November 2015 19:40:15, cookyy2k said:

On the plus side glazier trade is going top be up.

As a result of all the glass ceilings within the police service?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10 November 2015 22:24:50, mike88 said:

PCSOs were bought in the fill a gap left by the lack of neighbourhood PCs, now PCSOs are gone. All round a terrible time for policing in the UK, the cuts are brutal, however the real tragedy is PCSOs were never given enough powers to do their job properly anyway so the role was doomed to fail from the start. I feel sorry for the people who will be losing their jobs but the role was never well thought out or implemented anyway. As an ex-PCSO my experience is the good PCSOs weren't good because of the role, it's because they were proactive people who went beyond what the role required of them. 

The value of PCSOs is force specific and depends on how they are both trained and utilised.

I am not sure what the model is within West Midlands Police but I remember at one stage seeing local authority wardens wearing near identical police uniforms and body armour within a West Midlands local authority area walking past WMP PCSOs who were not even issued a vest at that stage! They looked pretty useless at that time, but I am not sure if anything changed.

I doubt that PCSOs will be missed in the MET and I wonder if the same applies for West Mids?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, ParochialYokal said:

As a result of all the glass ceilings within the police service?

I was thinking more all the windows going through in "sink estataes" due to unchecked asb.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think this is a mistake. We need to be engaging with the public, we need to be getting intel, tackling ASB, checking on the vulnerable, raising awareness and doing all the other things PCSO's do. In my force PCSO's are the backbone of the neighborhoods team. They know their areas, they know the faces, they know the problems. I have solved so many crimes as a result of good work by a PCSO. The only good reason to get rid of them is if they are replaced with an equal number of officers which clearly won't happen. They may go but the jobs they do will still need doing, surely there are other things in this country we can cut or do without....?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 20/11/2015, 20:30:52, inq said:

I think this is a mistake. We need to be engaging with the public, we need to be getting intel, tackling ASB, checking on the vulnerable, raising awareness and doing all the other things PCSO's do. In my force PCSO's are the backbone of the neighborhoods team. They know their areas, they know the faces, they know the problems. I have solved so many crimes as a result of good work by a PCSO. The only good reason to get rid of them is if they are replaced with an equal number of officers which clearly won't happen. They may go but the jobs they do will still need doing, surely there are other things in this country we can cut or do without....?

We don't have Community Support Officers in Scotland. Police officers gather intel, tackle ASB, check on the vulnerable, visit schools, waste time in community council meetings and all that jazz. Police officers know their areas, know the faces, know the problems. I don't think there is one thing that they do that a police officer can't and if we can manage without them in Scotland why can't you south of the border? How did forces manage before they were introduced?

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...