Home Office Evaluation of PCSOs

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FINDINGS

Evaluation published:
January 2006

CSOs were seen as more accessible than police officers by some members of the public who were, therefore, more likely to report issues to them that they would not 'trouble' a police officer with. The public was also more likely to pass on information to CSOs.

CSOs' activities varied in different areas. This reflected force level and more local priorities.

The evaluation found no evidence that CSOs were having a measurable impact on the level of recorded crime or reported incidents of antisocial behaviour in the areas where they were deployed. This may be accounted for by a number of factors including limitations of the data, changes in levels of reporting and the sorts of activities targeted by CSOs.

The public valued the role of CSOs. There was strong evidence from two case study are as, where the CSOs were well known by name to the community, that the residents and businesses felt that CSOs had made a real impact in their areas especially in dealing with youth disorder.

The diversity of CSOs, particularly in terms of ethnicity and age, has been one of the successes of the implementation of this new role .

Over 40% of CSOs said they joined as a stepping stone to becoming a fully sworn police officer

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Police support officers aren’t police
The Argus
I read with interest the letter from Mark White, secretary of the Sussex Police Federation (Letters, May 1).

Even more interesting was the picture on page 20 - Claire Truscott's article on the recent terrorist trial. The caption again read, "Police officers on patrol."

They were not police officers in the picture, but police community support officers (PCSOs).

Sussex Police has recently replaced the royal blue PCSO epaulettes with black ones featuring letters and numbers, just like regular officers.

I am a serving police officer, not with Sussex, and I attended an incident recently which was policed entirely by Sussex PCSOs.

The event in question is a regular event and one which Sussex Police knows attracts underage drinkers and troublesome youths.

One such youth started to mouth off to one of the PCSOs, who could do nothing about it as he was not a police officer. He had to just stand there and take it.

Thankfully, I was there on an unrelated matter and stepped in to intervene and defuse the situation. Had I or any other police officer not been present, the PCSO's nearest back-up from the police was at least a 20-minute drive away. This is unacceptable. The PCSOs should never have been on their own in the first place.

They may be an asset in certain situations, but PCSOs are not police officers and they should be stopped being treated as such by their bosses.

They should not be sent into situations which they are not equipped to handle.

8th May 2007                view more news              view the article              view the thread on this

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