POLICE in an Essex town have forged a partnership with a supermarket to provide community officers with a convenient base.The new link-up will give Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) stationed in south-east Colchester a convenient base from which to work by joining forces with the Co-op on Abbott's Road.

POLICE in an Essex town have forged a partnership with a supermarket to provide community officers with a convenient base.

The new link-up will give Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) stationed in south-east Colchester a convenient base from which to work by joining forces with the Co-op on Abbott's Road.

The partnership was launched this week and will provide the support officers, who back up the town's police force by providing security and a high visibility presence, with office space and use of the staff canteen, rather than having to cycle to and from their headquarters in Shrub End.

PCSO Lorraine Hughes said the move would benefit the police, the store's staff and customers, and the wider community.

She said: “Our main job is to provide a high visibility police presence to deal with anti-social behaviour and minor issues. Our station is about a half hour bike ride away, so from a PCSO point of view, having a facility like this is brilliant.

“A site like this is part of the community and by using it we can now spend more than 70% of our shifts out on the street.”

Linda Reakes, loss prevention controller for East of England Co-op Society, said the move would help reassure staff and shoppers become more familiar with the work of PCSOs.

She added: “I don't think anyone can lose from this. It is just one of the measures we're putting in place to help the police solve the problem of Anti Social Behaviour. It helps Essex Police because they have such large areas to cover.”