Community Support Officers Scrapped

Northern Ireland won't be benefiting from 'Blunkett's Bobbies' as the UK-wide initiative that puts uniformed support officers onto the streets to help regular police is known.

The NI Policing Board has just agreed the details of a Comprehensive Spending Review with the police service to 'balance the budget' for 2008/2009 and in order to address 'remaining shortfalls totalling £12.5m', the Board "reluctantly agreed" with the PSNI that some projects will not be able to be progressed - including funding for the promised Community Support Officers.

Board Chairman Professor Sir Desmond Rea said: "Difficult decisions have had to be made and some policing projects and strategies will be affected including the call handling project and the recruitment of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) along with savings to be realised on overtime working."

PCSOs are civilian employees trained to work alongside and support their police colleagues and the Northern Ireland Office originally launched a public consultation on wider policing issues which would also include the introduction of PCSO's.

Deputy Chief Constable Paul Leighton - who was leading on the PCSO project - said at the time: "As their very title suggests, PCSOs are about supporting the police in dealing, more successfully, with local community issues and providing greater public reassurance. Their introduction is not about creating different levels of policing.

"It is envisaged that PCSOs will become part of our Neighbourhood Policing Teams across Northern Ireland. They will assist in the delivery of a first-class service to the people of Northern Ireland, thereby helping to make communities safer and reducing fear of crime."

Also at the time, the Policing Board welcomed their 'key role' and said it is to provide a high visibility and reassurance to communities using a problem-solving approach to tackling quality of life issues. It was anticipated that the necessary legislation was to be in place by March 2007.

However, by the end of 2007, it was clear that problems had arisen. David Simpson, the Upper Bann DUP MLA tabled a question to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on what progress has been made on plans to introduce police community support officers and got a vague response from Minister Paul Goggins to the effect that "the precise date for the introduction of PCSOs is yet to be decided".

However, after years of indecision, the PSNI will not now be proceeding with the introduction of the support officers, triggering widespread disappointment on this outcome.

Already, the Chairman of Newtownabbey District Policing Partnership (DPP) Tom Campbell said the plans to shelve the introduction of Police Community Support Officers and reduce overtime working were bad news.

"This has come as a great shock to me as it will be to members of DPPs up and down the country. We were promised that the introduction of Police Community Support Officers was to soften the blow of the many reductions in visible police resources, now we are told that this is not going to happen.

"We are still in a situation where the community has to be reassured that the police can respond and be seen to respond to the many complaints about, for example, anti-social behaviour and drunkenness that blights our society and which causes misery throughout the borough and indeed further afield," he added.

The initial concept, introduced by then Home Secretary David Blunkett was for these officers to be embedded in their local community, tackling the issues of concern to local people and being held to account by those local people, with the community getting new powers to 'trigger' action.

"Key to this vision is bringing in dedicated neighbourhood policing teams across the country. They will be supported by continued substantial investment that will maintain record officer numbers and also provide 25,000 community support officers and wardens," he commented, at the time.

(BMcC)