Parish councils in South Holland have poured cold water on plans for “village constables” to work alongside police in fighting rural crime.
Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner Alan Hardwick is asking parish councils to consider funding 1,000 new volunter Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) who would act as a link between communities and the police.
The idea is included in Mr Hardwick’s Police and Crime Plan for Lincolnshire for 2013 to 2017 which was approved last month, but parish councils believe residents are already paying enough towards policing through council tax.
Mr Hardwick said: “I’m simply suggesting that parish councils may like to contact me if they are interested in helping to fund volunteer PCSOs who will be trained and have the same powers as a PCSO.
“But they would be village constables whose beat area would be the villages represented by parish councils .”
Mr Hardwick admitted that his idea had received a “very mixed response” from parish councils but said his idea was a response to demands for a greater police presence in rural areas.
“I’m not surprised by the response because some parish councils undoubtedly hold large reserves of cash while some others don’t, so I’m trying to be as fair as I possibly can be by giving every parish council a chance to express interest in the scheme.”
But Holbeach Parish Council chairman Peter Savory said: “This proposal has been poorly thought out and I believe that it doesn’t stand up to any scrutiny.
“It’s been proposed for a number of years that there should be a Special Constable in each village who would be volunteers with the same powers as a regular police officer.
“PCSOs have very limited powers, not much more than a member of the public, and they are funded by the council tax payer.
“The cost of this would be considerable for Holbeach as the parish would require three or four PCSOs and, in fact, they wouldn’t be much more than a Neighbourhood Watch scheme member.”