Police Commissioner questioned over claims Macclesfield PCSO 'was never replaced'
Two Macclesfield Councillors have interrogated Cheshire's Police Commissioner.
They challenged John Dwyer over claims all 122 of the county's policing communities had dedicated PCSOs.
Mr Dwyer was giving an update on policing to Cheshire East Council's scrutiny committee on Thursday and said: "The county has been divided into 122 distinct community areas.
"Each one of those areas has got a dedicated PCSO and a dedicated police constable designated to those areas. This is on top of the response teams who are working 24 hours a day, seven days a week across areas."
Broken Cross and Upton councillor Rob Vernon (Lab) challenged this.
"You talked about the 122 areas in Cheshire, all with dedicated PCSOs, what are those areas in Macclesfield?" asked Cllr Vernon.
"Until last year, we had a dedicated PCSO for my council ward. He was visible, recognisable, kids knew who he was… He was a friendly positive face for Cheshire Police and the community. He responded to residents, was responsive to myself, active on social media, aware of local issues.
"Last year he moved on, and, as far as I'm aware, was never replaced.
"There is no dedicated PCSO for Broken cross and Upton. That recognisable face for Cheshire Police has gone, that community engagement has gone, that visibility has gone, the localised knowledge has gone."
The Labour councillor said the police website still listed him as the Broken Cross PCSO when 'he's not been in the job 10 months'.
"Will we be getting a PCSO back in my community? If so when and if not, why not?" he said.
Mr Dwyer asked Cllr Vernon if he had raised the matter about the lack of a PCSO with his office and when he said no he asked him why not.
The police boss said he would look into the matter but added: "It's no good coming to a meeting like this and suddenly producing a piece of information which, frankly, ought to have been addressed sooner and my office is there to deal with that."
Macclesfield councillor Steve Carter (Lab) then said there hadn't been a PCSO in his Hurdsfield ward since January – and he had contacted the police commissioner's officer on January 13 about it.
He said he received a prompt reply the next day and then, on January 20, Mr Dwyer's office contacted him to say it was an operational matter but they would push it forward to the police chief.
"It's now September 1 and I still haven't gotten a PCSO, so I have gone through the right process," said Cllr Carter.
He said he wasn't blaming Mr Dwyer, as he had also spoken to high ranking police officers.
He added he was delighted by the dedicated police constable at Hurdsfield but said she had contacted him twice and said she needed a PCSO.
"So the police officer's contacting the councillor to actually try to get the police, for which she's a member, to actually have a PCSO. That's not good enough," said Cllr Carter.
Mr Dwyer said he was concerned by this.
"I was only told three days ago that all our PCSO 122 roles were filled, but you're telling me it isn't true," he said.
The commissioner's chief executive Damon Taylor said he had just checked the latest information and told the meeting: "We've had a particular issue in Macclesfield recruiting PCSOs and there is a couple of vacancies.
"Across the whole force my understanding is on that 122 model there is nine vacancies in total. Unfortunately, there has been a number of vacancies for whatever reason in the Macclesfield area."
He added a new PCSO was due to start in one of the Macclesfield wards on September 3.
Despite this claim, there are still vacancies being advertised for PCSOs on the Cheshire Police website.
Lower-ranking then police officers, PCSOs were first introduced in England 20 years ago this month.
Their pay varies from force to force between around £16,000 to around £27,000 per year
Macclesfield: You can find more about PCSOs by clicking here and here.
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