Croydon Council’s private police force could be under threat, with 18 staff in talks about their future.

Neighbourhood enforcement officers (Neos), which cost the council up to £500,000 a year could be done away with as the council seeks to fund more police officers in the borough.

The council insists it has not decided to “delete” any jobs and said there had been no talks about redundancy.

Councillor Gavin Barwell, cabinet member for safety and cohesion, said a review was under way to bring council officers who do similar jobs under one roof.

Neos, neighbourhood wardens, environment officers and the two teams that deal with antisocial behaviour work in different departments.

The officers deal with antisocial behaviour, vandalism, littering, graffiti and fly-tipping. Neos, who earn £26,400 a year, were introduced in the borough in October 2007 to help deal with Croydon’s gang culture, among other things.

Coun Barwell said: “It is all very piecemeal. I want all the teams brought together.

“Some of the money spent on council officers will go towards funding police officers. We will still have some uniformed council officers but what we will call them and what they will do is not yet decided.

“We are consulting staff at the moment. We have to reflect on what staff want.

“At the March council meeting I will be announcing the final proposals in detail.”

Coun Barwell spoke about the plans at the Safer Croydon conference last Wednesday, where more than 100 members of the community met to discuss crime in the borough.

A council spokesman said: “We have not decided to delete any posts and we have not identified any part of our service that is more likely to be affected than any other.

“We are looking at these closely to see if we can rationalise the level and type of patrol that exists. While this review is taking place we have not identified any individuals who could be affected, so there have been no talks about redundancy.”

Coun Tony Newman, leader of the Labour group, said he has long called for Neos to be scrapped and the money spent on more police in Croydon.