PROPOSALS to take 336 police community support officers (PSCOs) off the streets by 2020 have been put forward by West Midlands Police (WMP) in a bid to save £130million.
The proposals are to reduced the number from 535 to 349 over the next 12 months. The current number of PCSOs is 674 but there are currently 139 empty posts.
It all comes after the force’s wholesale review of local policing which looks at PCSOs in terms of their role, numbers and deployment for the first time since their inception.
Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said more than 80 per cent of operating costs came from pay budgets at WMP and there was no other way with the cuts they faced when they had already closed front desks and begun to decided on closing police buildings.
WMP will also be investing in IT and changes to the way it works to become more effective so less time is needed to be spent sitting at a computer in a station.
