56 PCSO’s have been made redundant following a decision made by Nottinghamshire police.
The review of the role of PCSO’s has been part of the Force’s change programme, which has taken into account the changing face of crime and policing and means more of an emphasis has been put on cyber-crime, child sexual exploitation and domestic abuse.
The difficult decision has been made as a result of the financial pressure that the force is under, meaning that they have had to make changes in order to continue to serve the public in the best way possible.
The cut will reduce of number of PCSO’s in Nottinghamshire to 251 and every community will still have a Neighbourhood Team but with a mixture of officers, PCSO’s, Special’s and partners.
The decision has been met with some resistance, particularly from Dave Ratchford, Regional Head of Police and Justice for Unison in the East Midlands.
He said: “It’s bitterly disappointing. We found out about this through the media and it is disappointing that the Commissioner would overlook the petition that we handed to him in July with over 21,000 signatures.”
“The Commissioner was elected on the pledge to increase PCSO’s and at the time of election he said he wanted to be the people’s commissioner, so it’s very difficult for us to understand how this decision has come about.”
Paddy Tipping, Police and Crime Commissioner for Nottinghamshire Police said: “It’s not just the Police that tackle crime. The local authority, fire service and ambulance service all play a role and I think ultimately what we need to do is restructure things so that we are providing one public service.”
“We have to join our services to give people a better service at a lower cost.”
