A union says it is “disappointed” by a police force’s plans to cut the majority of its community support officers.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed last week that Northumbria Police is moving to heavily reduce the number of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in its ranks. In a major restructure of neighbourhood policing services, bosses say they cannot afford to keep the current number of PCSOs while also pledging to put an extra 134 police officers on the streets.
A total of 136 PCSO roles are set to go, 41 of which are currently vacant, as officials seek to make savings of more than £12m to balance the books – though the force said it would seek to redeploy the at-risk staff to other jobs. The cutbacks will leave just 60 PCSOs spread across the Northumbria patch, which covers Northumberland and the five areas of Tyne and Wear.
