Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Funding for new Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs)

With Shadow Home Secretary and local MP David Davis
outside Howden Local Policing Team Station

Funding for new PCSOs

Today (Tuesday), Humberside Police Authority decided to fund the 33% short fall in funding by Central Government to enable the planned increase in Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) to go ahead in the East Riding of Yorkshire, as part of the neighbourhood-policing programme.

“As Chairman of Gilberdyke Parish Council and member of the Howden Neighbourhood Policing Panel - I recognise that one of the issues we face is crime, with many people unhappy with the service provided by the police, and fearful of crime. It is quite clear the police need to be seen, and to regain people’s trust. The role of the PCSO is very much community based and probably the nearest thing we’re going to get to a ‘Local Bobby’ on our streets”.

“This funding is very good news, and may well go a long way in allowing people to feel comfortable calling and dealing with the police. I look forward to seeing this type of high visibility, Police presence in Gilberdyke, and our neighbouring villages as a minimum requirement, to reduce the fear of crime as well as crime itself”.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is excellent news - provided that the PCSO's are given the power and the responsibility to do a decent job. If all they do is walk around our towns and villages "showing a presence", they will soon become devalued and be seen as an expensive overhead we could, as ratepayers, do without. So, what I want to see are statistics on their work and their effectiveness. Then in 12 months time we can decide whether we want to keep them.