Andrew Dismore

Dear editor ,

 

Unelected new London Assembly list member Conservative Kemi Badenoch calls for our few remaining PCSOs to take on extra duties. If she has her way, no doubt they would also be sweeping the streets, emptying the bins, issuing parking tickets and acting as council inspectors, instead of  their vital policing patrol duties.

 

However, what she overlooks is that due to the Conservatives’ cuts, we hardly have any PCSOs left in the first place. From the  six  we had out of the total of nine officers in  each ward  Safer Neighbourhood Team with Labour, we now have just one PCSO alongside a single  PC, per ward. And until the end of last year, even those few PCSOs  were seriously  under threat of redundancy  until a last minute reprieve from the Commissioner.

 

In Barnet we have suffered a reduction of 121 PCSOs- a cut of 74%, in addition to the 81 fewer police officers who have also been axed locally.

 

At the same time we have seen a significant rise in crime, as confirmed by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner at his Barnet earlier this month.  He told us that total crime in Barnet is up 6.4% in the last calendar year, residential burglary up 4%, and mugging 16%.

 

Instead of new wheezes as to what they should be required to do , surely with this appalling crime record under the Conservatives our PCSOs should be primarily engaged on their core business: gathering  intelligence,   deterring and detecting  crime, and  providing community reassurance  and engagement.

 

 

 

Andrew Dismore

Labour London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden