At a signing ceremony at West End Parish Centre this evening the parish, town and borough council in Eastleigh signed up to provide 36 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) who will be helping to tackle crime and disorder throughout the borough as part of a partnership initiative between local councils and the Police.
An innovative funding scheme has been led in the borough by Eastleigh & District Association of Town & Parish Councils with of course the support of the Borough Council. The Borough, Town and Parish Council’s have signed up to partially fund 15 of the 36 PCSO’s. This has the advantage that these 15 officers will be designated to the specific areas that has provided the funding. The other 21 officers will be deployed within the borough by the Police according to operational need.
These officers will be a very welcome addition to help with the law and order issues across the borough and particularly in West End. I for one fully support their introduction and wish them all the best in getting to know the area so they can get to grips with problems they find.
The Police Community Support Officers will work alongside the Police performing a highly visible service with around 80% of their duty time spent on patrol, particularly at neighbourhood hot spots. The Borough Council are also acting here in their capacity as a parish council for the areas of the borough which do not have a parish or town council to ensure they too have designated officers.
At the Eastleigh area top police officer Chief Inspector, Diana Boyles commentated:-
“I am very excited at the prospect of Police Community Support Officers joining us within the Eastleigh District and the real difference they can make to the lives of all people within our communities. PCSOs will get involved with communities and be a real visible presence to provide reassurance.”
Also at this West End occasion Cllr Cathie Fraser, Cabinet Lead for Health & Community Safety, said:-
“This is an important initiative that I hope will provide real benefits to our communities and also help to reassure local people that the borough is a safe place to live and work. The Borough of Eastleigh is already one of the lowest crime areas across the country and I look forward to the PCSOs working within our communities to prevent crime and disorder and to make our borough even safer and feel even safer.”
The PCSO’s, who are currently being recruited and trained by the Police, will complement Police Officers and be able to give crime prevention advice, issue fixed penalty notices and deal with local problems such as anti-social behaviour issues. They will be working within their community helping to reassure the public and work closely with local groups, families and businesses.