Wirral to cut down on police CSOs

Dec 15 2007 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

THE community support officers patrolling Wirral face cuts after the council cut its contribution to the police by £100,000.

As part of wide-ranging budget cuts, the authority has cut the equivalent of four CSO posts.

The move has been criticised by local Conservatives who said it meant increased pressure on police resources to either maintain the posts out of their own funds or lose four officers.

Conservative councillor Tony Pritchard said: “We could lose four CSOs at a time when people complain about things lik e police response times and want to see increased patrols on our streets.”

Cllr Pritchard said Tories had been concerned about the introduction of CSOs, fearing it was “policing on the cheap” but said they had now become an important part of the local force.

He, with colleague Cllr Leah Fraser, had voted against the cuts at a recent council emergency scrutiny committee meeting.

They were critical of the way the cuts were brought before council members, claiming the report had been too brief and the accompanying verbal report given to the meeting meant they did not have enough opportunity to properly scrutinise the cuts.

Cllr Pritchard said: “In my view they are grasping a lot of these cuts our of the air without proper reports looking at implications for the council and services.”

The bid to make savings in the Labour-Liberal Democrat-run authority follows the revelation two months ago that Wirral faces a budget shortfall of £60m over the next three years.

Earlier this week it was revealed that the Children and Young People’s department is axing more than 60 jobs to save £2m. Other controversial plans have included leaving Wirral’s CCTV cameras unmonitored during weekday daytimes.

The cuts are part of a wider reduction in spending in Community Safety, with the Alleygating budget also slashed.

A report to the scrutiny committee said Wirral had been an early contributor to the CSO scheme when there had been little Home Office support.

But increased Government contributions had seen the numbers of CSOs rises since 2003 to 79 in the borough, and the cuts put forward would bring Wirral into line with the contributions made by neighbouring councils.

A spokeswoman for Merseyside Police Authority said they had not yet been formally notified by Wirral Council of the funding cut and could not therefore comment.

The issue of funding for the CSOs will be under discussion by the Police Authority when it meets on January 24.

liammurphy