Out dated thinking and old fashioned protectionism are stopping Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) from getting on with the job, warned their union UNISON, today (20 September).
The union is calling for critics of PCSOs and those resistant to change, to sweep away their narrow minded,old-fashioned “Dixon of Dock Green” attitude and start building a modern,responsive service, fit for the tough demands of 21st century policing.
A survey of PCSOs carried out by the union for Channel 4’s Dispatches programme, backs up UNISON’s own 5-year campaign, urging successive Home Secretaries to extend the powers of PCSOs. The survey reveals that 74% do not have adequate powers to do their job properly. In order to protect their local communities, they need powers to detain and the power to issue penalty notices for disorder, but these are given only at the discretion of their Chief Constable.
UNISON is warning that the current position on PCSO powers is a recipe for confusing the general public, because different forces have different powers.
Ben Priestley, UNISON’s National Officer for PCSOs said:
“Don’t criticise Police Community Support Officers who are being asked to fight crime and anti-social behaviour with one arm tied behind their backs. The Government needs to
give them the powers they need to get on with the job. Giving PCSOs different powers in different forces makes no sense when they are all doing the same job – it only serves to confuse the public.
“PCSOs are not a con, they are not substitute police officers and they are not policing on the cheap. Most importantly, they should not be stopped from doing a much-needed job, by the old fashioned, attitude of conservative minded critics both inside and outside the service.
“PCSOs are a success story – the public like them and they have transformed neighbourhood policing. They carry out a lot of duties that took up valuable police officer time, leaving them free to get on with the job of tackling serious crime.
“PCSOs are here to stay – it’s time to cut the carping and find ways for them to work together with police officers, towards the common goal of protecting the public from crime.”
In 2008 a study by Louise Casey, former head of the Government’s Respect Task Force, found that 92% of the public said that PCSOs should be given the power to detain. The Home Office has been slow to respond to the public demand. Last year at UNISON’s Police Staff Conference, the then Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the Government were seriously considering expanding the standard list of PCSO powers to include the power to detain.
Twelve months on the position on PCSO powers remains just as confused and unsatisfactory.
Despite this fact, PCSOs play a vital part in delivering neighbourhood policing and make up the majority of neighbourhood policing teams, which cover the whole of the UK.
ends