CALLS are being made for York to join the fight to safeguard the work of police community support officers as uncertainty surrounds their future after the General Election.

York Labour councillor Ruth Potter – a member of North Yorkshire Police Authority – will be asking City of York Council to give its support to the policing initiative when it meets this week, amid fears it would be axed under a Conservative government.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling has raised the possibility that, under a Tory administration, PCSOs – neighbourhood officers with no powers of arrest – may be dropped as part of a shake-up which would instead see month-long curfews and “non-criminalising community penalties” introduced.

But Coun Potter has tabled a motion asking for the council’s chief executive, Kersten England, to write to Conservative leader David Cameron expressing “deep-seated concerns” at his party’s stance and asking him to rethink it.

Her motion reads: “The council welcomes the presence of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) on York’s streets.

“It also welcomes the continual improvement in reducing crime in York and North Yorkshire as a result of the national Neighbourhood Policing Strategy, of which PCSOs are a key part, the role of PCSOs in reducing levels of crime and increasing public confidence.”

Coun Potter is also asking for Ms England to write to each of the prospective parliamentary candidates for the York Central and York Outer seats at the forthcoming election requesting they raise concerns about the future of PCSOs.