- 21/10/2013
- Posted by: Mike Hedges MS
- Category: Latest News
The Welsh Labour Government has achieved one of its top “Five for a Fairer Future” priorities for this term of Government, by recruiting an extra 500 Community Support Officers (CSOs) in Wales, the Party’s Local Government and Government Business Minister, Lesley Griffiths, has announced.
The commitment has been supported with Welsh Government funding of over £40 million over the three years from 2012-13. Following last week’s draft Budget announcement, this commitment has been extended for a further year until 2016.
Over 500 full time equivalent CSOs have been recruited, the majority on a full time basis with some on a part time basis. 470 have already been deployed and the remainder are in training and will be deployed before the end of October. The achievement of this commitment has almost doubled the number of CSOs on Welsh streets.
The allocation of CSOs across the five police forces in Wales is as follows:
- South Wales Police – 206
- Gwent Police – 101
- Dyfed-Powys Police – 74
- North Wales Police – 101
- British Transport Police – 18
CSOs in Wales have been undertaking tasks such as leading anti-bullying campaigns in schools, engaging with local young people to break down barriers between them and the police, attending older persons’ groups, supporting victims of crime and providing intelligence that leads to the seizure of drugs.
