POLICE COMMUNITY SUPPORT OFFICER BUDGET IN SOMERSET

That this House deplores the proposal by Conservative-controlled Somerset County Council to cut £129,000 from the budget for police community support officers from 1 April 2010; believes that the democratic process was not enhanced by the decision of the Conservatives to keep this policy secret in advance of the Somerset County Council elections in June 2009; further believes that there is considerable concern across Somerset about crime and anti-social behaviour; applauds the work of police community support officers; notes the success of neighbourhood policing at tackling crime and reassuring the public; and supports the Somerset Liberal Democrat campaign to prevent Conservative-controlled Somerset County Council cutting more than a quarter of the funding from the Police Community Support Officer budget next year.