PCSO cuts "will harm" neighbourhood policing, says union

Unite the Union attacked South Yorkshire Police over the move, which will see 78 currently filled PCSO roles replaced by 73 police officers.

South Yorkshire Police has insisted the changes would be an improvement to neighbourhood policing because there would be extra officers with more powers, for example, to stop and search, arrest suspects and intervene in offending.

But Unite regional officer Shane Sweeting said the union would seek an urgent meeting with the police to discuss the revamp.

“We welcome the increase in the number of police officers, but it should not be at the expense of the PCSOs who do valuable and vital work in communities underpinning the police service,” he said.

“PCSOs are particularly needed at key times when anti-social behaviour occurs, such as late evenings and weekends — and that is a very good reason why their numbers should not be cut.

“Overall, we think the decision is detrimental to good policing across South Yorkshire — there needs to be a balance between the police with warranted powers of arrest and the important community work that the PCSOs do on a daily basis.”

An extra 73 police officers will be hired across South Yorkshire over the next three years — but the current 217 PCSO posts will be cut by 101, the force announced on Tuesday following a review.

Ironically, the number of roles being axed — 23 of which are currently unfilled — is the same as the phone number for the police’s non-emergency hotline.

Unite the Union, which represents PCSOs, has previously criticised the move as potentially forcing officers into a “nine-to-five” role and preventing them dealing with anti-social behaviour outside of office hours.

This week, the union described the move as “detrimental to the overall good policing across the county” said individual officers would lose up to £2,500 a year in allowances because of a change in shift patterns.

It said it could not confirm how much PCSOs stood to lose until the new shift patterns were created.

The extra 73 officers promised this week — including 13 sergeants — are on top of “30 officer roles already announced for this year”, the force said.

But the pledge of 30 new officers has actually fallen from the 40 Chief Constable Stephen Watson pledged to hire last November.

A spokeswoman was not able to confirm how many police officers it would have in total once the shake-up was completed.

Assistant Chief Constable David Hartley told reporters at a press conference that the changes would be brought in over the next two to three years.

He denied the move was a cost-saving measure and the number of PCSOs would be reduced through “natural wastage”.

“What we’re looking to do is to make sure our community, neighbourhood policing offer is improving, and our desire is to be a force that offers outstanding levels of neighbourhood function,” he said.

Mr Hartley said there would be two police officers for every PCSO, instead of the current ratio of two PCSOs for every police officer.

He said there would be “no loss of resources” to the districts, including Rotherham, but it was too early to say how the workforce in Rotherham would change.

Mr Hartley said PCSOs who had served in their communities for many years would still be a part of the force and some would be trained up as police officers.

“This is very much around enhancing what we offer — whatever those concerns are,” she said.

“For example, there’s far too many speeding vehicles driving through Swinton or Wath on a Friday night, or we have a concern around burglaries, or off-road motorbikes — there’s going to be a resource there now that’s got the power to stop the vehicle, to intervene, to search, to try and discover people who are going equipped to steal, who are carrying knives.

“A PCSO doesn’t have those powers, nor is it their role, but our communities are telling us that’s what matters most to them.

“We keep the PCSO, we keep the engagement, but we’re also going to increase the capacity to be seen to act on those priorities we’ve been so clearly told about.

“We know that this change cannot happen overnight and we will look to ensure that we have resilience in our neighbourhoods before any changes are made.”

He said PCSOs would continue to work into “early evenings” and on Saturdays.

There had been fears that PCSOs would stop working outside office hours altogether — prompting fears about an increase in anti-social behaviour.

Mr Hartley said exact shift patterns had not yet been worked out and the details would be released in the coming months.

On the issue of the financial impact, he added: “I’m really sensitive to the fact that there will be some impact on our staff.”

Unite regional officer Shane Sweeting said the union would seek an urgent meeting with the police to discuss the changes.

““We welcome the increase in the number of police officers, but it should not be at the expense of the PCSOs who do valuable and vital work in communities underpinning the police service,” he said.

“PCSOs are particularly needed at key times when anti-social behaviour occurs, such as late evenings and weekends — and that is a very good reason why their numbers should not be cut.