‘This will come back to bite us’ - Norfolk County Council’s Labour Group Leader issues warning over plans to scrap PCSOs

Steve Morphew, leader of the Labour group at Norfolk County Council. Pic: Labour Party. (Image: Labour Party)

Proposals announced by the Norfolk force include axing all 150 PCSOs, closing seven stations and shutting front desks to the public.

The 150 PCSOs at risk would be replaced with 81 new police officers and 16 non-officer roles as part of a move which will save £2m a year and follows the biggest review in the force's history.

But the move has been criticised by Norfolk County Council's Labour Group which 'regrets and opposes the proposals'.

Steve Morphew, leader of the group, said: 'Those of us who go around our neigbourhoods know what a difference seeing a uniform makes to residents.

'It gives them peace of mind. It makes them feel safer. We know fear of crime often has as much impact on people as crime itself. Promises of visible policing are not just window dressing. Peace of mind and the right to feel safe and secure are fundamental.

'It's hard to criticise the chief constable. He is highly respected and will do the best with what he is given. He is not in a position to criticise his political masters. The root cause is the government. The obsession with cuts is failing our communities and doing nothing for our economy. At a time when crime is increasing and in Norfolk we have seen for example a worrying rise in knife-crime, the last thing we need is to lose PCSOs from our streets.

'Of course we welcome more fully warranted officers, but it is a false economy to abolish PCSOs. We know residents chat to PCSOs. They tell them things that are going on in their community. They simply won't be able to tell PCs who won't be walking around in the same way. We know PCSOs help keep a lid on casual crime and anti-social behaviour that can blight people's lives. They see where the drugs are being dealt, anti-social behaviour is happening and pick up reports of abusive behaviour,

'PCSOs have always been part of the drive to prevent crime. Warranted police are primarily about solving crimes after they have taken place.'

Mr Morphew, who also raised concerns about moving and closing police stations, said the promise of visible policing is being changed into a reality of invisible policing'.

He added: 'This will come back to bite us. When there is an increase in low level crime and anti-social behaviour, which will happen as sure as night follows day, there will be an upsurge in public demands and policy will change again. Before that happens there will be many victims, and damage that need not have happened.'

The move, which Chief Constable Simon Bailey described as one of his hardest days in the job, has already prompted an online petition to be launched, via the change.org website, demanding sufficient funding of the police, so the redundancies can be avoided.

The proposals to axe all Norfolk's PCSOs and close police stations open to the public would leave the county's residents at increased risk of becoming the victims of crime, according to UNISON.

UNISON – the union that represents PCSOs across Norfolk – says the plans would also mean already stretched officers and staff becoming overburdened with extra work.

Changes to the way policing is delivered, announced by Norfolk's chief constable Simon Bailey, could see all the area's PCSOs lose their jobs, and the public no longer able to access seven police stations across the county to seek help or report crimes.

Commenting on the proposals, UNISON Eastern regional secretary Chris Jenkinson said: 'Criminals and those who seek to harm the public will be the only ones celebrating today. PCSOs don't just wander around the county in uniform to reassure the public, they also do valuable work that helps keep everyone safe.

'If the Norfolk Constabulary goes ahead and gets rid of its PCSOs, the work they currently do tackling low-level crime and anti-social behaviour will either stop altogether, or fall to already hard-pressed police officers and staff to deal with.

'But the true villain of the piece here is the government, which has ruthlessly slashed police budgets, so forces have had to do more with less. It's no coincidence that as PCSO jobs have disappeared across the UK, crime rates have soared.

'We'll be doing all we can in the coming days to convince Lorne Green, Norfolk's police and crime commissioner, and Simon Bailey to abandon these retrograde and dangerous proposals.'

But while there is obvious anger about the proposed cuts to PCSOs opinion is very much divided among the county's MPs.

Sir Henry Bellingham, MP for North West Norfolk, paid tribute to the 'sterling job' done by PCSOs who he described as being 'great servants of Norfolk' but admitted the announcement was 'unavoidable'.

Norwich South MP Clive Lewis said PCSOs would be a great loss and has blamed the announcement on government cuts.

But Chloe Smith, Norwich North MP, said she supported the proposals. She said: 'Obviously, this is a tough choice and for constituents who work as PCSOs I recognise that it will be unwelcome. On balance, however, I think this is the right choice for providing the best kind of policing in my urban constituency.'

Keith Simpson, MP for Broadland, said: 'It's very sad for the people involved because they're losing their jobs. They've been very useful from the point of view of gathering intelligence, but I can absolutely understand, having had conversations with the chief constable, why he's doing this.'

Liz Truss, MP for South West Norfolk, said she supported Norfolk Police in the strategy they had set out and said it was right the force was changing the way it operated in response to 'changes in the nature of crime', particularly in areas like child abuse.

Norman Lamb, North Norfolk MP, said he had enormous sympathy for those at risk and wanted to hear from others, including his constituents, but backed the chief constable in what he was doing.