Fresh call to return police officers despite no PCSO cuts
Deputy Mayor Cllr Sophie Linden - Credit: Archant
Despite plans to axe Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) from the streets of the borough dropped, Hackney Council is still calling on the police to do more.
Earlier this month, a proposal to scrap all 1,000 PCSOs roles in London neighbourhoods was rejected by Met Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe.
It meant none of the 36 Hackney PCSOs would be removed from our streets.
The news was welcomed by London Assembly Members at City Hall during the meeting with police chiefs but Hackney Council still want more officers returned to ensure that crime reduction continues.
Deputy Mayor, Cllr Sophie Linden, said: “While it is good news that the Met won’t be further cutting the number of PCSOs, the number in Hackney has already been reduced. And the number of police officers has also fallen.
You may also want to watch:
“That’s why Hackney is still calling on the Met and the Mayor of London to return 100 officers so that the long record of crime reduction is not put at risk.”
In October, Hackney Council launched a campaign - backed by the Gazette - to get more officers on the streets.
Most Read
- 1 Key road closed: Hackney and Islington travel news July 31 - August 6
- 2 'Heads need to roll', says domestic violence campaigner after 'reckless' council data blunder
- 3 Students earn scholarships at top schools worth £150,000
- 4 £5.75m investment agreed for "historic" Clapton leisure centre
- 5 Lidl opens! First shoppers enjoy Finsbury Park supermarket
- 6 'It's like toilet', say Dalston residents who have had enough of broken locks, rats and scaffolding
- 7 Vacant Grade I-listed Shoreditch church to be restored and revamped
- 8 Dangerously overloaded vans leaving New Spitalfields Market taken off the road
- 9 Hackney residents plan to make noise for more representative voting systems
- 10 Drug dealer who killed "beloved" Hackney father convicted
The council wants to see 100 police officers returned to Hackney’s streets, after swinging cuts saw a 22 per cent reduction in numbers, down to just 597 from 770 five years ago.
The Met’s decision to cut the police force in the borough was based on a one-year snapshot including crime figures taken from 2010/11, when the fight against crime was proving successful in Hackney.
