Caterham Mirror By Brian Haran brian.haran@essnmedia.co.uk Thursday, February 07, 2013
[size=150]"BUS driver, follow that van".[/size]
It may be a line you expect to hear in a film – but it was all in a day's work for Tandridge's longest-serving police community support officer
[url=http://www.thisissurreytoday.co.uk/Tandridge-s-longest-serving-PCSO-familiar-face/story-18077942-detail/story.html#axzz2KU6yJZKd][img]http://policecommunitysupportofficer.com/pimages/10thannivPCSO.JPG[/img][/url] 10 year PCSO
Nick Stone was the pioneer in the district 10 years ago when the first crop of PCSOs were recruited.

A decade on, the 47-year-old father-of-one is a familiar face on his beat around Caterham Valley.

The incident involving the bus four years ago was one of his more hair-raising assignments – and resulted in him receiving a police commendation.

He was on routine foot patrol with a colleague in Croydon Road, Caterham, when he got a radio call about two suspected drug dealers who had been seen loading goods into a nearby van.

Mr Stone said: "We flagged down a passing 407 bus as the suspects' van drove off.

"I radioed in with the van's whereabouts as the bus driver followed the van up steep Succombs Hill in Warlingham.

"Soon afterwards a police response car overtook us and intercepted the van at the top of the hill."

Drugs with a street value of £5,000 were subsequently recovered and two men were jailed.

A former nurse at Kingston Hospital, Mr Stone said his early days as the first PCSO in the district involved him finding his feet.

He recalled: "I don't think they knew what to do with me at first. It was a case of things like washing the police cars, and then what do I do next?"

Nowadays he is a highly visible presence patrolling his beat.

As well as giving talks to schools, he is often seen at places like Caterham railway station and the town's Church Walk shopping centre, reassuring the public and making sure would-be shoplifters know that he is around.

He said: "We don't get a lot of high-profile crime in Caterham

Which PCs are they "sacking"?

I must be the oldest PCSO in the job, l started as a special and then became a PCSO in 2009, l have four years to go before l retire.

My role, and l am sure other PCSO's will say the same 'its the best job in the world' during the shift l find loads to do, l am part of a great neighbourhood team, the role of us is for the community, but some forces are starting to follow the pathetic government route, when they say they want MORE PCs on the beat.

How can they do that when they are sacking PCs, and there are plans to get rid of 5.000 more. We need more PCSO's on the beat and in different neighbourhoods, The Met are saying they are committed to PCSO's but within the next five years l can see the whole format of us changing drastically.

A councillor said to me recently ' l haven't seen you on the ward lately, l told him we were called up for aid ' he wasn't very happy'

PCSO's do a great job and should be applauded for it, but sadly, All the coalition think is that we are a ' waste of space and money' here's to the next anniversary, and from me to you all - keep up the hard work you all do and look after your neighbourhood.

10 years on and still many variants of PCSO uniform throughout the counties. They just may get it right one day and have a national dress code.

[quote="dingdangdo"]It's not a false comparison, you and many others often compare your role with that of a PC.

I just don't think it is good value for money.[/quote]

AFAIK, I'm always careful to keep the two roles distinct. Obviously there is crossover, but the role itself is very very different and EXTREMELY good value for money.

It's not a false comparison, you and many others often compare your role with that of a PC.

I just don't think it is good value for money.

[quote="dingdangdo"]As they say "buy cheap, buy twice" - PCSOs are not good value for money when you look at what a PC can do that they cannot.[/quote]

It's precisely because I am NOT a PC and have no powers of arrest that I'm far closer to my community than any of my PC colleagues.

I'm surprised that you've spent so much time on this site ans still don't comprehend the uniqueness of the job we do.

Please stop this false comparison. We're really not just a bunch of emasculated Police Officers you know :slww: Most of our job consists of steering, advising. mentoring and intelligence-gathering.

As they say "buy cheap, buy twice" - PCSOs are not good value for money when you look at what a PC can do that they cannot.

[quote="dingdangdo"][quote="ringull16"]...we have jobs to go to, reassurance visits, vulnerables to take care of, ASB issues to rectify, neg line crimes to record, enquiries and subsequent crime investigations such as cctv and house to house , we deal with lost and found, searches for missing from homes, we are school liaison officers, we hold homewatch and other local meetings, we deal with councellors, we initiate action plans, we sort out neighbour disputes, we offer crime prevention.... the list goes on.

How will Police Officers fill the void we leave?[/quote]

Where I work, this is what our community PCs do.[/quote]

Perhaps, but PCSOs do it just as well but much cheaper :slcup:

[quote="ringull16"]...we have jobs to go to, reassurance visits, vulnerables to take care of, ASB issues to rectify, neg line crimes to record, enquiries and subsequent crime investigations such as cctv and house to house , we deal with lost and found, searches for missing from homes, we are school liaison officers, we hold homewatch and other local meetings, we deal with councellors, we initiate action plans, we sort out neighbour disputes, we offer crime prevention.... the list goes on.

How will Police Officers fill the void we leave?[/quote]

Where I work, this is what our community PCs do.

The original intake in the first year was a difficult one for PCSOs as the Conservatives didn't want us, the police thought that we would take jobs and the public had no idea of the concept. PCSOs were thrown out of the station and told not to come back until end of duty. 10 yrs on and we have a structure, we have jobs to go to, reassurance visits, vulnerables to take care of, ASB issues to rectify, neg line crimes to record, enquiries and subsequent crime investigations such as cctv and house to house , we deal with lost and found, searches for missing from homes, we are school liaison officers, we hold homewatch and other local meetings, we deal with councellors, we initiate action plans, we sort out neighbour disputes, we offer crime prevention.... the list goes on.
Although it has taken a few years we are known by our first names and greeted wherever we tread, we are integrated into the hearts and minds of most of those with whom we have had contact.
This job is great and a vocation for me and I'm so sorry that it may all end over the next few years as cuts bite and we are slowly depleated. I for one will miss the interaction with the public who have come to rely on us for minor crimes and help when they don't know who to call. How will Police Officers fill the void we leave?

On a more sober note. Although we have been around for a decade and are highly valued by our local communities, there is still a mountain to climb.
We are still often villified by the national Press, and the Police Federation and many senior police officers are still unwilling to acknowledge the part we have played in driving down crime figures over the past decade.
Another worry is that our role has still not been completely defined nationwide, with each Force choosing a different pallette of powers for it's PCSOs. Couple that with the fact that PCSOs are still barely tolerated by their Police Officer colleagues in some Forces and are not used to anywhere near their full potential through some sort of short-sighted petulance on the part of their senior management and the picture is still not great.

Additionally, the spectre of an end to "ringfencing" still hangs over our heads.

But enough of the doom and gloom!

Whatever happens over the next decade, we should all be proud of the fantastic work that we do within our communities and the difference we make.

Keep up the good work colleagues.

:slcl2: :slcl2: :slcl2: :slcl2: :slcl2: :slcl2: :slcl2: :slcl2: :slcl2: :slcl2: :slcl2:

Still here for now lol

[quote="falkor"]yep 2012 is the TEN YEAR MARK for PCSOs[/quote]

But it is still over a year away until your anniversary.

Anyone still posting on here from the early intakes then

I am pleased to report that 80% of those that joined with me are still CSOs or have joined the job



I started in Feb 2004 , seems a long time and the job today seems a lifetime away from what we were told at the interview and in training

still enjoy the role and get a kick out of it , but I do wonder if I will still in the post in another 5 years