South Holland is to share a local policing team with Boston after Lincolnshire Police confirmed its cuts to PCSO numbers.
PCSO numbers will be reduced from 91 to 50 due to budgetary pressures with police saying the officers will be redeployed elsewhere, writes Local Democracy Reporter Daniel Jaines.
Of those remaining three areas of South Holland deemed the “most vulnerable” by police will have two PCSO officers on the beat.
They are Spalding Town, Spalding Estates and The Suttons.
South Holland will share a neighbourhood policing team with Boston which will be a team of 31 including 15 PCSOs, community beat managers, sergeants and Inspectors.
Chief constable Chris Haward said: “The bedrock and foundation of policing is built from our communities upwards, and this new model means that we have our officers in the areas where they are most needed.”
He said teams were not removed, but rebalanced and reiterated that there were other officers from different departments backing them up.
“While on paper their tasking might be different, their goals are universal – to keep people in this county safe,” he said.
“Of course, these decisions have been difficult, but we’ve made sure that we not only fully understand where our staff need to be, but also that we use our remaining resources wisely by setting their focus to make sure they deliver policing in Lincolnshire that looks after our communities.
“This stretches right through the organisation and our investments in areas such as the Force Control Room, which is the beating heart of Lincolnshire Police, and our safeguarding teams mean we are allocating resources to where they are most essential.
“The new local policing model will of course be different but we are confident that these plans will look after people who are living in areas of the most vulnerability, threat, and harm.”
Councillor Marianne Overton, from the Lincolnshire Independents, said her party was “alarmed” by the news.
“PCSO’s play a vital role in tackling anti-social behaviour, drugs and preventing crime, attending road traffic accidents to keep the traffic flowing safely, protecting vulnerable people and teaching children about how to stay safe,” she said.
“A police officer cannot not replace a PCSO. They do not know the jitty children use, where they live or who the parents are.
“They are not tied to a neighbourhood, while the beauty of PCSO’s is that they are local and know the area, the people and the problems faced.
“Police action is often only effective because of the local intelligence gathered by the PCSO’s.
“Removing the PCSO’s from our villages is incredibly short-sighted and seriously fails our communities.”
Councillor Overton also shared an email from one PCSO who was affected.
The email said: “I simply repeat to you all what I said to assistant chief constable Di Coulson yesterday, ‘We are heartbroken.’”
