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More than 3,500 front-line police community support officers (PCSOs) in England have been axed by the coalition, according to a Unison report released yesterday.
The study found there had been a 22 per cent reduction in the number of PCSOs in England since 2010, with nine police forces having cut more than 20 per cent of them.
In London, the Metropolitan Police Service cut a massive 49 per cent of its PCSOs, equating to a loss of 2,280 officers from the streets, while 31 per cent have gone in Merseyside and 28 per cent in Essex.
A PCSO who took part in the survey said: “On my own safer community team, numbers have been cut from 9 to 2 — an 80 per cent cut that makes it impossible to even staff our five-shift system.
“All of the work we have done over the last decade is unravelling and we are powerless to stop it. Morale is at rock bottom.”
