Everyone would like to see more police officers on the streets to improve public safety and the feeling of security in the community. Sadly, budgetary restraints in recent years have meant that the traditional bobby on the beat is not as common a sight as it once was.

A compromise was created a few years ago with the creation of police community support officers – highly visible, uniformed and trained support staff who are able to provide more of a presence in the community and deal with minor problems themselves or to hold the fort until the police arrive.

Time and time again the PCSOs have proved their worth.

However, they are as vulnerable to financial restraints as the police themselves, and budget cuts had threatened the jobs of 100 of these men and women in the Bradford district.

So a round of applause, then, for West Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson who has delved into the coffers to find £2.9 million – boosted by a further £770,000 from Bradford Council – to ensure that these PCSO jobs are secured for the next two years.

This means that during that period the current staffing level of 211 PCSOs in the Bradford district will be maintained. As PCSOs are now recognised as one of the main weapons in frontline policing, it would have been something of a disaster to public morale for their numbers to be halved.

No doubt the PCSOs will continue to pay their way over the next two years by making communities safer and tackling crime alongside the main police force.

It is to be hoped that two years down the line, their numbers are not only protected again, but increased.