07/08/2013 Look East - West

the programme tonight: Policing on the cheap, or a high-profile sign of

security on the streets - what's the future role of our Community Support

Officers? Watch your handbags - the gangs

preying on innocent shoppers in the centre of Bedford. Practising for

the Pole - an airman who lost both legs in Afghanistan is heading for

Antarctica. And it's Finals Day for the

Steelbacks as they triumph in the T20. Good evening. They were

initially considered policing on the cheap but have increasingly become

the public face of the region 's police forces. Community Support

Officers, or PCSOs, were introduced ten years ago. There are currently

168 PCSOs in the region and 1350 regular officers. Northants has 125

PCSOs and more than 1200 regular officers. In Bedfordshire there are

only 90 PCSOs fear. PCSOs do not have the power of arrest.

Pending the beat, critics have always maintained that the purpose

of PCSOs is to save pounds. They cannot arrest people but focus on

neighbourhood policing. Issuing parking tickets and confiscating

alcohol, including having a work with this grip -- having a word.

Cambridge police are asking you what you think about PCSOs, but after ten

years the reality is that some others are still not sure what their

powers are. What you think of police Community Support Officers?

They are good, good to have around. Do you know what their powers

actually are? I gather next to none. Not the full power. not a lot of

power, not as much as the normal police. I feel safer and it is good

to have them. They either friendly face of the police.

When the PCSOs first came in, it was not known what they did on Friday

were here. As it has evolved we have become more involved. Police

officers respect that we do different things to what they do and

we have worked well together. Kim Butcher police insist that the

review is not about saving money, but they do have to find �22 million

over four years -- Cambridgeshire police. What they are looking at is

the future of policing. it is a mixed economy. Police officers are

with full powers, PCSOs with next powers, special Constabulary, and it

is would be looking at how all of those resources with different rules

and different responsibilities and different powers come together to

deliver a good policing service. Some believe that the scrutineers

overdue. Since the rule was introduced we have not had a review

like this. It is really important that the taxpayers of Cambridgeshire

get best value for money from the policing service. But many seem

unsure what PCSOs currently do, let alone what the role should be in the

future. There is no way of knowing how much

PCSOs have contributed to fall in crime figures, but they do provide

that presence. It is there a more cost-effective way of doing that? I

asked public services lecturer Julian Constable. The police

Federation for a long time have said that they would prefer and

exhilarate police force, Philippe trained and with powers -- fully

trained. We have the special Constabulary at the moment but that

is not the same kind of organisation as the PCSOs. and also, relying on

volunteers to make up the police force in future. How worried should

people be? There have been some calls to pay police volunteers. Some

forces have been looking at that. The PCSOs however are paid,

therefore it is a direct costs coming out of the police force 's

budget and I suspect that is partly what is motivating this review of

the activities of PCSOs. Across the country PCSOs numbers have been

following recently. What has been the impact of that? we have no

evidence of that rate now at the moment to understand what the direct

evidence of PCSOs is as such. But there have been suggestions that the

cuts to the police service over the last few years are having a direct

impact on the capacity to perform a community and crime prevention

activities. If you do reduce PCSOs numbers it is quite possible that

cheap lease a greater burden on regular police officers -- that you

place a greater burden. What you think is the future for PCSOs?

is very uncertain. What we do know is that there are further cuts in

budget and we know that that has lead to reductions in PCSOs numbers

and police officer numbers and I suspect that that will continue into

the next two or three years. Next, I care workers secretly filmed

sleeping on the job has denied neglecting an elderly resident.

Jackie Ndoro, one of two key workers accused of failing to help the

82-year-old he collapsed. -- who collapsed.

This is where Jackie Ndoro used to work. The court heard she was very

experienced. She cut a lively figure in the witness box as she

strenuously denied neglecting the man, who was found on the floor of

the lounge. She told the court that she had not panicked. She said that

he was chatting away. A bit of help, or something like that. The

prosecution said, you can sure him on CCTV seeing, help me, help me,

and you and your colleagues failed to go to him. She maintained that

she knew nothing about the fall and how she went into the room. She said

her colleague had not raised the alarm. The prosecution said that the

peer manhandled him into the wheelchair and that she should have

made the effort to go and get a hoist.

Why did the assistant manager decided to film these two in the

first place? The court heard that the laundry

room was very quiet when this peer was on the night shift and the

assistant manager was always suspicious about the level of care

that were giving. Jackie Ndoro was filmed falling asleep on the job and

she admitted that she had neglected to do some of her two hourly checks,

which is when she would have changed the wet bedlinen. A jury has been

sent out to consider its verdict tomorrow.

Gangs of Eastern European 's are targeting shoppers in Bedford,

stealing cash. One pensioner had �3000 stolen when followed from the

bank. Elderly people are called that they are the vulnerable targets.

These look like innocent shoppers, but they are callous thieves.

Earlier they watched as an 80-year-old woman withdrew �3000

from a bank, money to pay for her holiday. Now they are following her

into a lift and they are about to steal her cash. She is one of a

number of pensioners being targeted by gangs. They are making an effort

to travel to Bedford to get their victims. These gangs will surround

them. Before they know it, the victims are having their bags dipped

into and their purses taken. The first woman targeted were followed

by the gang into New Look. Another woman had her handbag, containing

�1200, taken from her shopping trolley. it is absolutely appalling

that they should pick on elderly, vulnerable people. It is a level of

depravity that we have not quite known before in this country.

families should talk to them to make them aware that carrying that kind

of money around is not safe these days. Just be extra vigilant. If you

find yourself being followed by people, do you really need that

money on your person when you are walking around the town? Detectives

are now asking anyone who recognises the gang members to come forward.

Workers at the troubled Railcare factory in Wolverton have now been

paid for the first ten days in August but they have been told there

is not enough money to cover wages they have been owed for July. The

company went into administration last week with more than 100

employees been told they will lose their jobs. The National Trust has

spent �1 million restoring our historic town in Wisbech.

But they say that the restoration will eventually pay for itself. The