Scotland Yard set to axe up to 1,000 PCSOs to meet government spending cuts

Braced for cuts: Scotland Yard
Metropolitan Police Service
Justin Davenport10 September 2015
WEST END FINAL

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Scotland Yard is to examine drastic plans to axe 1,000 police community support officers working in local neighbourhoods in London.

The Met says it is planning to make the redundancies to meet expected Government spending cuts of up to £800 million over the next four years.

The force is considering two options, the first is to keep 640 PCSOs in local neighbourhood wards, the second is to axe all 1,017 PCSOs.

The Standard understands a third option to find cuts elsewhere and keep the posts has now been ruled out.

Trade unions and some politicians today condemned the decision with Labour's Joanne McCartney, the party's London Assembly policing spokeswoman, saying it was the "death knell" for neighbourhood policing.

Public and Commercial Services Union general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "PCSOs provide a link between communities and the police that is crucial to developing and maintaining trust.

"We don't believe this is in the best interests of Londoners and we are calling on the Met to halt the plans and allow for proper negotiations around the alternatives."

Ms McCartney said: “This is the clearest sign yet that Government cuts are decimating London’s police force.

"Axing all of London’s PCSOs would be the death knell for neighbourhood policing and mean far fewer officers on the beat in our communities acting as the eyes and ears of the Met."

She said the move would leave local neighbourhood police teams with just one dedicated ward officer in future.

The Met confirmed the two options would be considered by senior officers at the force's next Management Board meeting at the end of the month.

Commander Lucy D’Orsi, who is leading the neighbourhood policing project, said: "Like local communities we very much PCSOs and their role in community engagement, they have been an integral part of the Safer Neighbourhoods model from the start.

"However, the financial pressures we are facing mean that we have a duty to consider all options available in order to meet those challenges and to ensure we deliver a quality policing service to London's communities."

The Met has slashed costs by £600 million to make savings in the past five years but now faces a further £800 million budget cut in the new Government spending round.

Police sources say the plan to axe PCSOs is just one of a number of significant savings being considered by the force to meet the new constraints.

However, not all PCSOs will go. Those funded by other organisations, such as Transport for London, and PCSOs who work in Aviation Security are not under threat.

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