According to UNISON, Kent Police plans to significantly cut the number of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) it employs from 336 to 104 after reviewing neighborhood policing. Even if the positions remain unfilled, this will still result in a reduction of 203 PCSOs to 104, none of whom will have a community affiliation. Numerous PCSOs from the local community will no longer exist, as will their more specialized counterparts who specialize in things like youth engagement and domestic abuse victim support.
It appears that Kent Police, which was once a staunch supporter of PCSOs and refused to let them go during earlier rounds of austerity, has lost interest in them in favor of police officers who are paid for by the government’s 20,000 police uplift initiative.
“Kent Police will sell this as providing a better service to the public,” stated Ian Pointon, branch secretary of UNISON Kent Police and Justice. But with a projected budget black hole of between £16 and £20 million for the following year, this choice will save £6.7 million, which is a sizable contribution to the total goal nevertheless. My recommendation is to follow the money if you’re looking for a reason behind this choice.
Some people will be in favor of adding more police officers to neighborhood policing. But, based on all I’ve seen, I can assure you that those police officers—who possess all the legally granted authority of a police officer—will shortly be called away to handle other tasks. The main reason PCSOs were spared from this was because they lacked the same legally granted authority. PCSOs continued to work their beats in their communities, establishing those crucial local connections, resolving issues related to antisocial behavior locally, gathering crucial community intelligence to support crime detection, and freeing up police officers for tasks that called for their authority. The public adores PCSOs, and they will be deeply missed. My true concern is that we won’t recognize our losses until it’s too late.
It would be irresponsible of me to ignore the fact that Mr. Tim Smith authorized a major increase in the number of PCSOs to be retained—a rise of more than 100%—in response to the union’s representations and the assistance of the Police and Crime Commissioner, a temporary Chief Constable. This union opposes the loss of our PCSOs, who have served the public with selflessness as the cornerstone of neighborhood policing, notwithstanding this rise. In this year of the PCSO’s 20th anniversary, this is incredibly inadequate, thank you for that public service that has always been praised up to this point.
“Kent Police’s budget will continue to be relentlessly squeezed; because of the Home Office, the budget has been unable to keep up with inflation or the rising expenses of gasoline and electricity. This year, they granted a welcome salary increase, but they did not offer enough money to cover the expense. Unfortunately, the story is as ancient as time itself, and the Chancellor’s autumn statement hasn’t given me any comfort about what lies ahead.
“We must not lose sight of the people involved in this process; our esteemed colleagues who will be unable to support their families, pay their rent or mortgage, and lose their livelihoods in the midst of a crisis caused by the rising cost of living.” There’s a big human cost to this decision.
