POLICE community support officers (PCSOs) will have more powers under a plan which will also see their numbers cut in Sussex. They will have additional powers to enter licensed premises and enforce licensing offences, to tackle alcohol being sold to under age and street drinkers, as well as people who are drunk in public.

PSCOs will also be issued with body worn cameras and have more staff safety training. But communities could also lose a named PSCO for their area, under the plan to make them part of a wider prevention team.

A consultation period lasts until mid-February and the new model for community policing would begin in July.

Assistant Chief Constable Robin Smith said: “The design is part of a broader need to transform neighbourhood and local policing, making the role more responsive, with greater responsibility and capability to solve local problems. It gives us a real opportunity to make PCSOs more effective and equip them with the skills they require to resolve local problems and prevent crime and disorder.

“We cannot, however, shy away from the fact there are fewer PCSOs in the new model."

Under the Local Policing Programme PCSOs will be deployed more flexibly in teams to areas assessed on the level of threat, risk and harm. Their role would have an increased focus on prevention and problem solving, rather than predominantly on reassurance.

In October, the force announced it was planning to reduce the number of PCSOs from 325 to 228 by March 2018 – a cut of 30 per cent. The number of police officers is set to be cut from 2,810 to 2,293, down 18 per cent.

Trade unionist Andy Stenning, of Unison, warned many PCSOs would not want to do the new role and leave.