Minutes:
The Executive Member for Community Safety and Environment initiated a discussion on the issues, challenges and opportunities in respect of additionally funded Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in East Herts.
He stated that the Hertfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner had not indicated any intention to not continue funding PCSOs. He commented that it would be prudent to examine the future of PCSOs in East Herts.
Members were reminded of the service level agreement whereby East Herts was funding 3 PCSOs at a cost of £28,625 each. Although PCSOs had no powers of arrest, they continued to undertake very valuable work across East Herts, particularly in Ware Trinity and Hertford Sele wards.
Members were advised that consideration had to be given to whether PCSOs should continue to be managed by the police and also whether PCSOs should be given the same powers as Special Constables.
The Executive Member for Community Safety and Environment concluded that PCSOs were a highly visible and highly valued resource that was vital in intelligence gathering and reducing the fear of crime in East Herts.
Councillor S Bull stated that he would not be supportive of the connection between the police and PCSOs being lost. The continued attachment to the police gave PCSOs crucial support in the work they carried out in East Herts.
Councillor R Beeching stated that PCSOs were extremely important and had a very high profile in terms of reducing the fear of crime in East Herts. He expressed concerns that no reference had been made to PCSOs in the 2013 – 2018 Police and Crime Plan for Hertfordshire.
In response to a query from Councillor Beeching, the Head of Community Safety and Health Services advised that Special PCSOs operated in the same manner as Special Constables, i.e. working on a voluntary unpaid basis.
In response to a query from Councillor P Moore, Members were advised that when a PCSO progressed onto being a police officer, it was up to the local police commander as to whether the PCSO vacancy was filled. Any replacement would have to come from an existing PCSO being transferred in, as there were no new recruits being taken on by Hertfordshire Constabulary at this time. Members were also advised that, where a dedicated schools’ PCSO had been withdrawn, the workload was passed onto a Neighbourhood Team PCSO.
Councillor N Symonds stated that PCSOs in Bishop’s Stortford Central ward were invaluable and worked very hard in a variety of highly valuable activities, such as preventing more serious problems escalating from what were relatively minor issues.
Members asked the Head of Community Safety and Health Services a number of detailed queries regarding East Herts PCSOs. The Committee was assured that a full and detailed written response to all of the queries would be sent to Members after the meeting.
The Executive Member for Community Safety and Environment stated that the Hertfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner was very supportive of volunteers backing up the regular police. Members were reminded that PSCOs were not volunteers and were recruited to work on a full time basis within set hours.
Councillor J Mayes stated that it was imperative that Members were made aware of how many PCSOs were available in East Herts and also the range of organisations which were responsible for funding the East Herts PCSOs.
The Executive Member for Community Safety and Environment thanked Members for their views and feedback. He stated that he would feedback to the Police and Crime Commissioner just how highly East Herts valued PCSOs and the Authority would continue to explore options for supporting PCSO provision. The Chairman thanked the Community Scrutiny Committee and the Executive Member for a very useful debate.
RESOLVED – that (A) the comments of Community Scrutiny Committee be noted;
(B) the Head of Community Safety and Health Services formally write to Hertfordshire Constabulary to seek answers to a number of queries from Community Scrutiny Committee regarding PCSO provision in East Herts; and
(C) an update in respect of PCSOs be submitted to Community Scrutiny Committee at a future meeting.