EAST BERGHOLT PARISH COUNCIL 9 April 2026

ITEM 11: DECISION IN PRINCIPLE POLICE COMMUNITY SUPPORT OFFICER (PCSO)
PROPOSAL

At last month’s Parish Council meeting there was an update on the research undertaken into
the services of a local PCSO. Amongst the questions asked was why the report had not
begun with an analysis of what crime levels there were in the village and why in a village
with relatively low crime statistics we might need this service? Were we just paying out a lot
of money to make people feel safer, when in relative terms people are safe? =t was an
entirely valid question and helped me to reflect that perhaps = had assumed too much was
understood about a PCSO’s work and = had not spent enough time explaining the community
purpose and work of a PCSO. = hope to put that omission right in the paper below.

A PCSO is not a policeman, they don’t solve crimes, nor are they intended to. Their aim is to
assist with community problems such as those listed below under “Daily Tasks of a PCSO”.
The also provide a visible deterrent to crime and provide an enhanced knowledge base in
the police systems which will help the wider police force to determine priorities in our
village. These are the tasks that the village bobbie of old would have undertaken. Pressure
on police budgets and a focus on police car patrols means that these tasks have disappeared
down the list of the official police priorities along with a significant reduction in the numbers
of police officers that patrol our rural areas. The police service recognises the gap that
losing the local bobby has made to their connection to the community and their stop gap
position is to employ PCSOs, non-commissioned members of the police team, to assist a
reduced number of local police officers in their jobs. Unfortunately Suffolk Constabulary do
not have many PCSOs and the ones they have cover a very wide geographic area. Our local
official PCSO covers all of the villages between Claydon, East Bergholt and Shotley in a large
semi-circle to the west and south of =pswich reaching to the Suffolk/Essex border. Suffolk
Constabulary have however opened up an opportunity for local villages to fund and create a
dedicated PCSO post to cover dedicated areas. The current proposal = have been researching
on behalf of the Parish Council is the option to fund a PCSO dedicated to the parishes of East
Bergholt and Brantham on a 50/50 basis, that is 50% funding and 50% time for each parish
for 1 full time PCSO.

Daily Tasks of a PCSO

=n East Bergholt we do have issues which a PCSO can assist us with, most of which will not
have reached the crime statistics. =n the list below are issues recorded by parish councillors,
in correspondence from residents and through village surveys and consultations that for the
most part will not have reached the reported crime statistics. = have listed alongside these
issues the kinds of actions a PCSO might take to assist resolve them.

• Speeding, with particular problems regularly reported to us along the B1070, White
:orse Road, Straight Road
o A PCSO may set up and manage a speed watch volunteer team and provide
evidence upon which the uniformed police can act

o =n Thurston they gave us an example of their PCSO stopping a vehicle speeding
and driving erratically. Whilst the PCSO could not charge the person concerned
we were told that they were able to call in police quickly to arrest the person
driving
o A PCSO can provide a uniform presence as a reminder not to drive dangerously
o =n Thurston they report that their PCSO can arrange regular visits from the police
speed awareness team, using his local knowledge and reports to convince the
local police of the need for the visits
• Traffic confusion at both the exit to the :igh School and along :adleigh Road past the
primary school where pavements are not adequate.
o A PCSO can provide a cautionary uniformed presence at school start and leaving
times
o A PCSO will liaise with schools and provide road safety training and other safety
talks to the students.
o A PCSO can stop cars (see above) and call in the local police team quickly if
required
• Over the past 4 years we have proposed 20mph speed limits several times but been told
they won’t be any good if there is no support to check speeds.
o As above, a PCSO can provide a uniformed precautionary presence
o A PCSO can set up a speed watch team to provide necessary evidence for a
20mph limit and to provide monitoring once a speed limit is established
• Parking, with multiple road and pavement parking infringements through the village.
o =n Thurston we were told that the PCSO is able to talk to people parking unsafely
and causing a hazard. =n significant cases they are able to quickly call in help from
their police team to address the problem directly and with force of law
• Straight Road crossroads, 4 big accidents involving ambulances this year alone at the Mill
Road/Straight Road/Gandish Road junction with the B1070, plus two big accidents, one
of them fatal, down Touchy :ill.
o A PCSO, with visibility of a police car, can provide a cautionary presence
o A PCSO can provide an on-site quick response
o Thurston report that on a couple of occasions they have been able to progress
work at dangerous junctions through the PCSO’s provision of regular evidence of
risk and by raising the profile of the risk within the police and with :ighways. The
authority of a PCSO evidence carries weight.
• Both intentional and unintentional damage to Gandish Road playing surfaces and general
vandalism. :edge damage by bicyclists to boundary of surgery with St Hame’s Place.
o A PCSO can provide a uniformed presence acting as a deterrent
o A PCSO will regularly talk to school students in schools and be able to explain and
remind them of their civic duties.
• =n Nov 2025 there was a break in at the new coop store.
o This was a crime that would be dealt with by a police officer. The PCSO role in this
instance may be limited to local support and to be a cautionary uniformed
presence acting as a deterrent.
• Over the past 12 months there have been reports of two incidents of people dying at
home and remaining undiscovered for some time. There have also been reports of
hidden isolation and need.

o Patrolling the neighbourhood on foot, in a visible uniform, provides a point of
community contact, a trusted person who residents can talk to. A PCSO gets to
know the community and in particular people who have need of help.
o A PCSO can make reassurance visits in cases where they have identified a risk.
This is a regular part of the Thurston PCSO’s tasks.
o =n Thurston the PCSO holds 2 surgeries per month for residents.
• There have been reports in East Bergholt of drug dealing in the Lion car park and in the
NT car park.
o A PCSO can provide regular and uniformed presence to deter such trading in our
village
• =nfluence other statutory services
o A PCSO is trusted to provide objective and full evidence of areas of risk. They are
listened to carefully by the police and other local authorities who give their
evidence weight.

PCSO work assisting recorded crime

The Police crime statistics for East Bergholt over the last 12 months are reported at this site
suffolk.police.uk/area/your-area/suffolk/ipswich-west/claydon-copdock-and-
peninsula/on-the-team/crime-map
These reports give figures as follows for the core village plus East End:
Jan 26 15
Dec 25 11
Nov 25 9
Oct 25 15
Sept 25 15
Aug 25 7
July 25 4
June 25 12
May 25 12
April 25 6
March 25 5
Feb 25 7
These crimes contain cases of domestic abuse and violence. These crimes will by and large
be dealt with by police officers.
o A PCSO can assist with local knowledge. They will be gathering and reporting
local knowledge to enter into police knowledge system on a daily basis to give a
better background for police dealing with these crimes.
o A PCSO can make regular visits to people identified as at risk
o A PCSO may well be the first on any scene and will have rapid access to help from
their police team for help with any serious incident they identify.

In summary
A local PCSO can deal directly with lower-level issues such as traffic incidents; provide a
preventative service with safety training for young people; provide domestic incident advice

and presence; provide a trusted source of evidence, information and contact with the police;
and by providing a uniformed presence deter criminal activity and ant-social activity.

Research Results

The research into the option to provide a PCSO for East Bergholt in a 50/50 partnership with
Brantham included:
• investigating the powers of a CPSO
• met three times with Naomi Lofthouse and Georgia Memory from the Suffolk
Constabulary who would be the direct employers of our local PCSO to assess how the
model might work.
• met with the Chair and Clerk from Thurston Parish Council whose PC has directly funded
a CPSO dedicated to their village since 2011.

Powers of a CPSO

The details of the government guidance on powers of a PCSO are linked from this page.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/police-community-support-officer-powers

The Suffolk Constabulary guidance on the work of a PCSO can be found from this link
https://www.suffolk.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/foi-media/suffolk/policies/police-community-
support-officers-policy.pdf and is provided at Annex 1.

=n brief the CPSO has more limited powers than a police officer. They do not have the direct
powers of arrest that a police officer has but they do have some specific powers to issue
fixed penalty notices; to require name and address of people they perceive to have
committed an offence; and the power of influence good behaviour through the regular local
visibility of a uniform and a marked patrol car. See the documents in the links for their full
powers. They also are part of a community policing team and so backed up by police officers
and managers who they can quickly call in to assist them.

How a joint CPSO could work in East Bergholt and Brantham.

=n discussion with Naomi Lofthouse and Georgia Memory of Suffolk Constabulary we have
learnt that a PCSO would be employed to work for the Suffolk Constabulary and would be
managed by Naomi Lofthouse’s community policing team. The PCSO’s work would be
directed according to priorities set by Naomi and the Clerks of the 2 parishes working
together. The Clerks would have a large influence on directing their day-to-day work and the
local police priorities would be informed by the PCSO’s local intelligence reports which they
would report back to the police intelligence systems on a daily basis.

The working week would be 37 hours (40 hours with breaks included), within the core hours
of 8.00-18.00, spread in shift patterns over Monday-Sunday, but with some flexibility for
working later and at weekends for special events. At the start of each day the PCSO would
take briefing reports from the local community team and at the end of each day report back
local intelligence into the police information systems. They would wear a police uniform and

could patrol the villages on foot, by bicycle or in car, whichever is most appropriate for the
current task.

The formal powers of the PCSO are outlined in the attached links. :owever in discussion
with the police and with Thurston Parish Council we understand that their main impact is
the prevention of crime and bad behaviour. They can also quickly facilitate the presence of
the whole police team in the event of an incident that exceeds their powers. As examples of
their preventative work they can help set up speed watch groups; neighbourhood watch
groups; build relationships with intensive time in the schools to help students with road
safety briefings; patrol hot spots and assist with problems such as parking and speeding
outside schools and other hot spot areas such as the Gandish road/B1070/Straight road
crossroads; and they can help with local house checks if required to assist vulnerable local
residents. Their preventative role deterring crime and other unsocial activities, is enabled by
a visible and local police presence.

=n the case where we are jointly funding (50:50) a PCSO, then the PCSO would spend 50
percent of their time in each village. The times would vary to avoid predictability, but their
time, work and locations would be recorded and provided to the clerks on a regular basis so
that we could check the 50:50 presence is fairly split.

On very rare occasions the PCSO could be called to help the police with an urgent and very
major incident elsewhere, but on these occasions the cost of the PCSO would be credited
back to our parishes. We tested that point with both the police and with Thurston Parish
Council and concluded that the incidence of this would be very rare. For instance it might be
acceptable for a very short time during the immediate response to an incidence such as the
murder at Brantham a year ago. On the other hand when Thurston PC were asked if their
PCSO could help with crowd control of a Christmas market at Bury St Edmunds it was very
easy for them to resist this request.

Naomi Lofthouse explained that when recruiting for a PCSO that she would be looking for a
strong character, someone who can work on their own, and can set expectations from the
start, and clear in communications with the villages. She would be meeting them once per
month. She would be looking for a system to monitor their work and their priorities every
month. Anyone appointed would be fully trained by the police, at their expense, before they
commenced the role.

Experience of Thurston Parish Council
Thurston is a parish 4 miles to the east of Bury St Edmunds and north of the A14. =t has a
population of around 3867. =n many respects similar to East Bergholt and Brantham as it has
a high school, a village hall, sports hall and grounds, 2 pubs, 1 hotel, and an active
community.

To quote Thurston Parish Council website
“Thurston currently has an agreement with Suffolk Constabulary for a fully funded Police
Community Support Officer for a contract of 1 year commencing 1 April 2025.
PCSO 3362 Matthew Brown is the PCSO with dedicated responsibility for covering certain
duties within the parish of Thurston.

These duties will cover the following roles:
• Vulnerability and safeguarding: e.g. domestic abuse, victim support, hate and cyber
crime, supporting those with additional needs.
• Community Engagement: e.g. local issues and concerns, schools and youth
engagement, speed watch schemes.
• Demand management: e.g. Mental health, Suffolk family focus, antisocial behaviour,
licensing.
• Crime reduction: e.g. retail crime, rural crime – including shop and farm watch,
business crime
• Specific, appropriate roles in the village as requested by the Parish Council on behalf of
the electorate.
This fully funded PCSO is in addition to the current establishment of local SNTs and help to
strengthen not only the teams, but also the partnerships that exist between other
organisations and the police. They are deployed to serve the community but also have
specific duty to meet the requirements of the partner agency/business.
Should you need to get hold of PCSO 3362 Brown or Stowmarket SNT please call 101 for
assistance.”

The Chair and Clerk of Thurston were very generous with their time with us and very
enthusiastic about their PCSO. They have had a contract for their own dedicated CPSO since
2011. We established that the cost and terms and conditions applying to a local PCSO would
be the same as for Thurston.

They explained that Thurston is not a high crime area, the important feature for them in
considering a PCSO and their main expectation was the visibility of a police presence to
prevent crime. Their PCSO uses a car, a bike or on foot to patrol the village.
Their PCSO’s task list includes: Neighbourhood watch; Business watch; Farm watch; visits to
building sites including safety issues and managing the builder’s activities; Speed watch. :e
also flags up issues to the police teams and gets more attention for the village from the
police because of his higher profile.

=n practice he undertakes a street-a-week awareness schedule; 2 Wednesdays a month he is
open for public to call in to talk to him at the PC offices; checks in daily with the Clerk and
deputy to raise any issues; does reassurance visits for elderly vulnerable residents; acts as a
kind of safeguarding officer; deals with parking issues outside the school;

They have had 5 PCSOs over the 15 years of the contract. They emphasised that it is
important that the Clerk builds a relationship with the PCSO and their manager and the
PCSO is clear about the needs of the village and the tasks they expect the PCSO to cover.

We asked about any difficulties due to a CPSO not having powers of arrest, but they said this
was not a problem as the PCSO was well supported by his police team. They gave us an
example where the PCSO had stopped a vehicle speeding, had apprehended and called in
their police team to arrest the person speeding. The PCSO is very good at getting experts
into the village for local briefings, such as safety officers and regular visits from speed
awareness teams as they are in an informed position to raise the profile of local hot-spots to
the police teams.

Thurston currently fund the PCSO 50% from C=L and 50% from precept. They are aware that
they will need to move the funding all to precept soon.

Their key message to us was “the PC needs to firmly manage the agreement, this ensures
the PCSO is visible and doing the right things. =t is important that the Clerk and PCSO’s
sergeant have a close working relationship to manage the contract well.”

Contract and Management Arrangements
Key points in the contractual relationship are:
• Suffolk Constabulary employ the PCSO, the PCs buys the services of the PCSO
• The core role is agreed with a T&Cs contract
• They would wish for a 2 year contract to start, with review points. The termination
clause is 6 months
• Absences (sickness or otherwise) are not charged, we would only pay for the hours
actually worked
• The PCs can be prescriptive about what the PCSO does, as long as the work fits around
the shift times or exceptions are planned well in advance.
• Would charge for planned overtime
• We can agree monitoring requirements
• We would need to provide maps of the parish (the working area)

Cost
=t is expected that in 26/27 the cost of a full-time PCSO is £52330 pa. =f a police car is needed
to do the work this will cost a further £5000 pa.

With a 50:50 split in funding with Brantham parish council this would be a cost each of
£26,165 pa, plus £2500 if a car is required.

Recommendation
= propose that East Bergholt Parish Council determine a response to the following motion:

“This council approves in principle the arrangement to procure a PCSO service working
50/50 with Brantham Parish Council, subject to final contract terms and conditions with
the Suffolk Constabulary being satisfactory.”

Hoan Miller, 8/4/26