Stamford, Bourne and the Deepings will be left with no police community support officers
Three towns will be left with no police community support officers after Lincolnshire Police said it would look to focus on “vulnerable locations”.
Lincolnshire Police says it will put officers where they are most needed - and Stamford, Bourne and the Deepings are not among these high priority locations.
Chiefs said they would “maintain our commitment to neighbourhood policing”, despite reducing the number of PCSOs from 91 to 50 across the county, and from 11 to seven in South Kesteven - with all seven based in Grantham.
Currently there is one PCSO allocated to Stamford, two for Bourne and one for the Deepings, but these areas are all part of the same neighbourhood policing team. It is led by Inspector Mark Hillson with a police sergeant and a constable, and the officers could be called to wherever they are needed in the patch.
The changes mean there will be two PCSOs each for Grantham Town West and Grantham Town East and a further 12 shared between Grantham, Gainsborough, Skegness and Boston.
The move comes as the police's share of the council tax bill for households in Lincolnshire rises by £14.94 a year for the average Band D property, with the increase expected to raise an additional £3.4 million. The books will be balanced further by dipping into the reserves.
Chief Constable Chris Haward said: “The bedrock and foundation of policing is built from our communities upwards, and this new model means that we have our officers in the areas where they are most needed.”
He said teams were not being removed, but rebalanced and reiterated that there were other officers from different departments backing them up.
Chief Constable Haward added: “While on paper their tasking might be different, their goals are universal – to keep people in this county safe.”
The police and crime commissioner Marc Jones (Con) said the decisions were made by the chief constable "based on a robust evidence base of demand and need".
He went on to say he had made "multi million pound investments available to provide additional community police officers and specially trained officers" and that further "significant investment" is taking place at the moment including 15 new call handlers for the 101 service.
As a result of the changes, some districts will share neighbourhood policing teams including PCSOs, community beat managers, sergeants and inspectors.
They include: Lincoln and West Lindsey: 47 (17 PCSOs); North and South Kesteven: 27 (9 PCSOs); Boston and South Holland: 31 (15 PCSOs); East Lindsey and the Wolds: 23 (9 PCSOs).
The force says every ‘area’ of Lincolnshire will still be covered by its own dedicated neighbourhood policing team, which is led by an inspector with a dedicated police sergeant and constable.
It has also invested in 13 community beat managers.
“The new local policing model will of course be different but we are confident that these plans will look after people who are living in areas of the most vulnerability, threat, and harm,” Chief Constable Haward added.
- What do you think? Are you worried about the reduction in PCSOs? Email your views to: smeditor@stamfordmercury.co.uk