The damning report published into the problems of the Met also highlights a number of political decisions that has led to poor performance and loss of public trust.
Lincolnshire Independents wrote just a month ago to the Home Office Minister for Police in protest at the drastic cuts proposed in local neighbourhood Policing across the county. The cut in Police Community Support Officers from 91 across the county to 50 is extremely damaging, as it is those PCSOs who hold the connection with our communities.
Looking at the Lincolnshire Police budget, we can see that police officers and PCSOs will be paid £75m next year, out of a total budget £161 920. That is less than half the budget being spent on the front-line officers that we want to see. How can our elected Police and Crime Commissioner support this?
Reading Louise Casey’s report, we saw the Met re-organised so that police officers were not linked to a particular borough, but covering ever bigger areas, “essentially an austerity measure.” That rings bells for our Lincolnshire PCSOs and community policing teams where local stations are closed and fewer PCs and PCSOs have bigger areas to cover.
The Casey report points out that the worst periods of crime clear-up rates was in 2017/18 when police officers, PCSO and Specials were at their lowest. There was a reduction in uniformed PCSOs, a reduction in neighbourhood and beat policing, and changes in the demand and approach to prioritisation of crimes. Some officers described these as contributory factors in the decline of successful crime prevention and detection and the loss of public confidence.
This report is the prompt and the evidence we need to restate our commitment to PSCOs.
Marianne Overton
Leader of the Lincolnshire Independents
