PAUL Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner, has set himself a target of increasing the number of special constables in Surrey to 500 by 2020 as part of his campaign to bring back community policing. He has challenged other PCC candidates to do the same.

Mr Kennedy said: “One of the most striking police cuts in Surrey we haven’t heard about over the past four years of ‘zero tolerance policing’ has been the 63 per cent reduction in the number of special constables from 345 in 2012 to just 130 this year. If elected I’m determined to reverse that to bring back real community policing in our county.

“It’s common sense that police officers who are rooted in local communities, who know the concerns of local residents and speak to them regularly will be far more effective at tackling crime.

“There are few better examples of this than special constables who live and work as civilians in their communities but also volunteer as police officers with full police powers for at least 16 hours a month.”

“If elected I’m committed to increasing the number of special constables in Surrey to 500 in the next four years. That will mean 500 fully trained volunteer officers providing at least 8,000 extra hours of local policing every single month.”

“They’ll be able to bring their experience of their communities with them to Surrey Police and put it to good use in working alongside full-time police officers and with their local communities to cut crime.”

“With Surrey Police being forced to cut its budget by £25 million over the next four years it’s a no-brainer to use trained volunteers to relieve the pressure on our hard-working, dedicated full-time police officers.

“That’s why I genuinely hope that all the other candidates for Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner will join me in committing to the target of 500 special constables by 2020 - this should be something we can all agree on for the good of the people of Surrey.”