Community Support Officers financially unsupported

2.53.22pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 25th Aug 2009

Police Community Support Officers in Sefton are being cut back.

Southport's MP, Lib Dem John Pugh, has warned that we could be 'sleepwalking into trouble' with the announcement that 18 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) will be lost from Sefton's streets. Time-limited funding for PCSOs is scheduled to run out in 2010.

John Pugh said: "Local councils cannot shore up police budgets indefinitely and paper over the cracks . Community Support Officers were introduced as part of the Government's plan of extending the police family as a way of extending the uniformed presence on the streets.

"They do not have the powers or salary of a police officer. However, they were a response after decades of cuts to the demand to have more police and more 'bobbies on the beat'.

"There is no evidence judging by recent events that we don't need extra police resources in Southport, but with the cut in PCSOs existing police are likely to be more stretched. I don't want the police tied up in paperwork when grenades are being left on garden walls.

"As I see it there is uncertainty on uniformed police numbers, a big slump in PCSO numbers and an overall reduction in establishment. Although crime has, in general, fallen, we all want it to fall further and taking resources away could be sleepwalking into trouble."