I've been made aware of a recent meeting that all PCSO's on Safer Neighbourhood Teams were asked to attend at Lewisham Police Station regarding their future roles.

It appears there are two options with a decision being made on 29th September.

1 - All PCSO's (just over 1000) will lose their jobs and be made redundant.
2- Dedicated Ward Officers on our Safer Neighbourhood Team (629 posts at moment) will be retained and jobs will have to be reapplied for, therefore 350 posts will be lost.

As far as I'm aware PCSO's are only being cut to try and make savings within the Met.

The PCSO's/SNT play an important role in our community and I think it would be a great loss if FH lost them. They provide the public with reassurance, help victims of crime, reduce antisocial behaviour and engage with the community on a daily basis.

Has anyone got any suggestions on how we can help try to stop this happening?
Would a petition help out at such short notice?

That explains a conversation I overhead at WH Smith the other day. Not good news.

While googling to remind myself what PCSO stands for, I came across this BBC story from back in March.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-31862695

The ironic thing is, I thought PCSOs were started up because they were cheaper than 'proper' cops but could take on many of their more routine duties. Now, if I've read the BBC story correctly, we're losing PCSOs so we can keep as many of our police officers as possible - though presumably they'll have to take back some of the tasks that PCSOs were doing.

No matter what we do we seem to go backwards.

“There needs to be proper consultation on this matter - it does not reflect well on the police by making these changes without engaging the public - it also shows the Government and Boris Johnson’s claims that these cut don't affect frontline services is untrue. PCSOs in my opinion and especially those in Forest Hill have provided a vital link and a visible presence within the community and neighbourhood they serve.

I have also raised the issue as a matter of urgency with Lewisham & Greenwich Assembly Member Len Duvall. I will be looking to organise a petition against these and put forward a council motion.

I will also be raising this issue with the Labour Mayoral Candidate once the winner is announced on Friday”

Thanks so much Paul

Can you get the petition to me as soon as possible please as lots of my customers want to sign it.

Confirmed today - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-34200384

I agree, the PCSOs in our area are very friendly and helpful, it does make you feel safer seeing them around, they always have a good word to say in the street. They visit my children's school and talk to them about things like road safety. It will be a real shame to see them go.
What with the dangerous driving I see round here, and the spate of daytime break-ins in this area recently, I would prefer more police presence on the streets, not less...

So we are losing libraries, free swimming for children and pensioners, PCSOs... all sounds like cuts to frontline services to me. The austerity measures are really biting now, but at what cost?

(But probably doesn't affect David Cameron's chums who likely have their own libraries, swimming pools, and don't need a PCSO from the safety of their chauffer-driven cars....)

Agree with all posts on this.

Who will suffer the most?

Our kids - yes
The elders - yes
Victims of crime - yes
General public - yes
Independent shops - yes

Also most importantly our local PCSO's and SNT who care about our community and us that live here will possibly lose their jobs - big yes

I think this would be a massive setback in our community if we lose them in FH.

Please dont forget that this is Sir Bernads idea and no one elses at the moment. I would be surprised if it happens.

Both Forest Hill and Perry Vale currently only have a single PCSO each (Sydenham has 3). There may well be vacant positions in the teams, but I think it has been a while since there has been more than 1 PCSO in Forest Hill.

So if the proposal is to reduce other wards across London to only one PCSO, in line with Forest Hill and Perry Vale, I don't think we have a huge problem in our area, especially since the local teams seem to have more PCs than they have for a few years.

Axing all PCSO seems unlikely and is probably only being stated to make the final decision seem more palatable. No doubt a report in the next few weeks will be issued by the Met Police stating what an important job PCSOs do and why one is needed in every ward.

I certainly hope that we keep the PCSOs in the local area who do a good job and have good local knowledge.

From my experience there is quite a lot of police presence around at the moment. I have the local PCSO/SNT's numbers which I can call them on when they give me a description of anyone they are "interested in" or if I think anyone is acting suspicious or as a threat to anyone.

As a local resident and trader I'm on friendly terms with them and I would be very sad to see them go.

This relationship helps keep local kids safe to and from school which sadly won't be the case if they go.

This worries me.

Michael and I should be able to share more info after the next ward panel meeting on October 1st which I'll definitely be at.

In the meantime Paul, if you can set up a petition please get one to me asap please.

It's a shame Boris Johnson doesn't pay more attention to this forum and to the BBC website (link above).
Yesterday the Mayor admitted he didn't know anything about this proposal:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-34268997

You would expect the mayor of London to know about such proposals, but it must be difficult as he settles in as an MP, member of the political cabinet, as well as a newspaper columnist.

Well said Michael. You would indeed expect the Mayor to know this, and given that crime and community safety is an issue for a lot of Londoners, it's quite disgraceful that he doesn't (and says a lot about him).

I've just tweeted Boris this thread, I'll let all know if I get a response.

Are you aware of this @MayorofLondon #SE23 #Concerns - The Future Role of our local Police Community Support Officers se23.com/forum/showthre…

As per my earlier post this is Tue Comissioner doing "blue sky thinking" and nothing to do with the Mayor.

I think threatening up to 1000 members of staff with redundancy goes beyond "blue sky thinking", but I doubt they will go through with this proposal.

He is trying to cut his budget and I imagine this is one of his considerations. I think Boris will be a bit cross about it though.

Update.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-34412324

Don't forget that the Police, and others, had 25% cut in budget in the last parliament. They are working to accommodate cuts for this parliament of 25 or 40%. The 40% cut would give a final budget less than half what it was when the Conservatives came in.

There are only so many buildings that can be sold off. I can't see anything but real cuts to the service. If the savings are to be the talked about £800 million, think how much cutting 1000 PCSOs would save? If they earn £20K thats say £25 million (taking into account some overheads). Now can you see how these cuts would mean nothing in terms of finance? To me this means they will have to cut a hell of a lot more..........in terms of humans with/without jobs and our peace of mind.......

In the meantime our PCSO's in FH have to wait even longer to find out if they have a job or not when they do so much in our community, including helping to get Rockbourne Youth Club up and running again for the local kids as well as all I mentioned previously.

Great that this is being looked at more by Boris but I got no response from my tweet from his team.

Time for another about this thread I think!