Future of South Yorkshire’s PCSOs to be scrutinised

20180905-SY-pcsos.jpg

Latest news in Yorkshire: September 05, 2018 02:06:37 PM

The future use of more than 200 PCSOs in South Yorkshire is under review as
police try to work out the best way to use their resources, according to the
Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Police Community Support Officers have no powers of arrest, but since their
introduction in 2002 they quickly proved their worth in dealing with
low-level neighbourhood problems.

Increasingly tight budgets and reduced numbers of regular police officers
have forced chief constables to re-assess the function PCSOs play within
their forces, with some scrapping the service.

In South Yorkshire, a recruitment freeze has been introduced to allow time
to assess what role the 225 PCSOs might hold within the force in future.

The county’s Police and Crime Commissioner Doctor Alan Billings says the
Chief Constable is looking at what PCSOs do.

“When PCSOs were first introduced, money was not quite so tight and there
were more bodies on the ground,” he says.

“What they do is spend more time on the ground, talking to people.”

See our Yorkshire Photography:
https://wath-on-dearne.com/wathondearne/around-the-dearne-valley/