A North East police force has scaled back plans to axe the majority of its community support officers.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed in March that 136 Police Community Support Officer (PCSOs) posts at Northumbria Police were set to be slashed due to budget cuts, leaving only 60 remaining across the entire force area. The move was criticised by trade union Unison, while police and crime commissioner (PCC) Kim McGuinness was accused of dodging public accountability over the job losses.
But it has now been announced that an extra 38 of those at-risk posts will be saved. Officials confirmed on Wednesday that “additional grant funding for recruitment has been secured, allowing the force to save more PCSOs than it had previously thought possible”. While Northumbria’s PCSO numbers will still be sliced in half under the latest plans, Ms McGuinness said having 98 rather than just 60 left after the cuts would put the force “in a much better place”.
