Dispatches

Comments

1. When will these TV reporters actually give us a positive report of what PCSO's do. One part I really found funny was "PCSO's don't have the power to search under-age people for alcohol" YES they do, when will they get it right. Go follow the BTP PCSO's and it'll be a whole different story.

   Posted by Monkreadusuk on 27/09/2009 23:06:44

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2. I am a serving Pcso of 5yrs,when are you going to air the Positive Pcso Version? You forgot also to mention How many hours we spend on Scene attendance logs,endless hours in the custody blocks carrying out constant obserations on Self Harm persons in custody! When you talked about how to judge a Pcsos performance then maybe you should have looked at the number of inteligence logs that they submit!! Not crimes detected...I was unaware that detecting crimes was my primary role! Maybe I should spend more time on that sat in the office like my fellow Police Officer colleagues?? Instead I will continue to carry out 90 per cent high visible foot patrol,gather as much inteligence as possible,continue with school visits,carry out customer satisfaction surveys as instructed by our senior management!!,try to make the community feel safer by just being out there and visible! Take away the Pcso role and wave goodbye to the majority of foot patrol in the UK! Police officers have a mountain of paperwork I agree HOWEVER a very high percentage mainly on neighbourhood police teams Refuse to walk! Think on public before you slate Pcso's as they walk on bye...Because the day of the Police Officer walking the beat has gone!!!! There idea of patrol is whizzing down your street in 10 seconds in a nice warm Panda Car,if your lucky....

   Posted by t on 24/09/2009 22:17:08

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3. I agree with all who have identified this program as another attempt to "bash" the PCSO. As Loopy rightfully pointed out, a drink driver crashes his vehicle into the hedgerow, a woman decides that it's not important enough to use her mobile phone to alert the police of this fact and instead waits until she's in town to inform a POLICE OFFICER, whom I can only imagine has batted it off for a PCSO to investigate. Why wasn't that original police officer investigated as well? As a former PCSO I've seen how police officers act as well, perhaps it would be beneficial for C4 to investigate all the police officers that shirk their duties for an easy life (and an on-time finish). Maybe then a fair argument can come about regarding public spending. Also, how can it be fair to take some drunken idiots opinion of an altercation he had with a PCSO and treat that as gospel? I noticed that there was no account from the PCSO? Anyway, I applaud all the people who go out there with the training they have received (not alot) and make a difference. And to all the people who say "we pay their wages!"....where do you think our taxes go?

   Posted by Ediblepolecat on 24/09/2009 16:41:03

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4. Hmmm... a drink driver crashes his car and a man gives verbal abuse in the street and the criticism lies with PCSO's? Most biased reporting I have ever seen.

   Posted by LOOPY on 24/09/2009 11:29:25

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5. The public are being conned. I was a police officer for 30 years and was for my last few years of service heavily involved with the Home Office. You have failed to recognise the overriding reason for the introduction of PCSOs and it is not all to do with finances. Finances do play a part but if you research this properly you will find that PCS0s with 3 years service are more expensive on a day to day basis than PCs until a PC has 5 years service a fact well hidden by the way the figures are used. The main reason and also the reason for the creation of the Serious Organised Crime Agency is to get total political control of the police, added together with the disgusting procedure of offering Chief Constables personal bonuses for hitting Government set targets they have just about managed their aim in destroying a police service which was proudly and rightly seen as the best in the world. I do recognise that many PCSO's actually want to become police officers and know forces use it as a sort of proving ground to see if they are up to the job , to see evidence of this just ask forces for the figures when they recruit of how many are ex PCSOs. Training them twice is another issue. You are being conned in relation to neighbourhood policing, which is a good idea and does work, but you are not getting it like it should be done to be effective because it is, despite what you think, being run by central government using financial incentives and other carrots together with devaluing the role of the warranted police officer.

   Posted by yorkie on 23/09/2009 18:08:02

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6. It is regrettable that the programme should have been such a blatant mouthpiece for the Police Federation. However one dresses them up in the guise of a professional association the Federation performs the same function as a trade union for its members. Dispatches failed to identify the self interest of the Federation who clearly see PCSOs and to a lesser extent other police staff such as detention officers, desk clerks, investigating officers and control room operators as a threat to their privileged position. I am happy to admit that I have a vested interest since I was a PCSO and am now Branch Secretary of a UNISON Police Branch It is quite clear that PCSOs and Constables have different functions and roles. The close integration which most PCSOs have achieved with local communities is remarkable. It is not something which the modern police Constable, with all his or her training, has the time to do. An increase in Constables to enable such engagement would be considerably less cost effective. In my view neighbourhood policing which has developed over the last few years would not have happened but for PCSOs. I am not even sure that the National leadership of the Federation is fully in tune with its Members. After all PCSOs work closely with police officers within neighbourhood teams and enable them to concentrate on those areas which really need the power, training and skills of a constable. Within our Force many of my PCSO colleagues have been commended for bravery, crime detection, life saving and their extensive work solving local problems of crime and anti-social behaviour. I know this to be the case across England and Wales yet Dispatches neglected to mention this.

   Posted by GlynB on 23/09/2009 15:59:42

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7. What is the situation in Law concerning 'Citizens Arrest'. Surely PCSOs would be able to make an arrest, if need be, using such an act. Or does this a law no longer exists these days - Or Just Forgotten about ?

   Posted by Do You Remember on 23/09/2009 12:37:09

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8. Very biased show. The amount of good and their reassuring presence is not shown at all. Their involvement in addressing local crime and getting to know the local community is valuable to addressing local crime. Very disappointing programme.

   Posted by Simon on 23/09/2009 10:40:31

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9. I am a PCSO and was expecting a well researched, unbiased and informative programme. Unfortunately after watching I was left feeling exceedingly dissapointed at the blatant reinforcement of the negative stereotyping of the PCSO role that this programme portrayed. I spoke to my Community Beat Manager (CBM)today who informed me that as a police constable, HE felt frustrated at the negative way the programme showed PCSO's. So well done Channel 4 for producing, in my opinion, a poorly researched and biased piece of journalism.

   Posted by NBT on 22/09/2009 23:34:34

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10. i am a care worker in plymouth and the PCSO's that work where i live are excellent!!! I remember looking out of my window a few years ago and saw a man going to assault a man in the street. there were 2 pcso's present and both officers tackled the gent to the ground and detained him. the next minute several police officers turned up to help. i feel that pcso's and police constables work well together. i always see my local pcso and if i have any problems i feel that i can talk to them and if they feel it needs to be passed to someone else they know who to get. PCSO's are a credit to Plymouth - Keep up the good work

    Posted by Whatever on 22/09/2009 20:50:13

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11. I watched the program and was alarmed by the 50 year old woman who criticised the PCSO'S FOR NOT INTERVENING IN A FIGHT. They do not have the same police protective equipment and the very brave lady must be glad that when she acted in such haist the offenders were not armed with a knife. Personal safety always comes first, its nice to be praised a hero but not if you are not alive to tell the tale. The PCSO'S RESPONDED TO THE SITUATION IN THE WAY IN WHICH THEY have been trained and fulfill the role for which they have been employed... well done!!

    Posted by M Smith on 22/09/2009 19:19:03

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12. Thank you for making my job considerably more difficult. The light in which you showed PCSO was negative and ill informed. The programe neglected to show the many positive attributes of the PCSO role and the benefits they have to communities. Whilst I do agree something needs to be done regarding the lack of consistency of powers throughout the country, this is something that should also be addressed at a Government level as this can have an impact, e.g. local bylaws. I feel that this programme will have only served to confuse people even more about what a the function of a PCSO actually is rather than helping.

    Posted by marv on 22/09/2009 19:00:08

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13. I am a serving PCSO with nearly 3 years experience and to say I was hurt by this show is an understatement! At no point did you give examples of any positive work a PCSO has done; only negative incidents were focused on. I felt sorry for the PCSO's that were being filmed as they didn’t do our role justice at all and if I were spoken to in the way in which they were I know 100% I would have to back-up from my colleagues to deal with them appropriately. The racist comments that youth made were unacceptable and I would have dealt with this in a more robust way and he would have been detained then arrested that behavior. I can only assume different areas deal with situations in a different way. I thought the Fed Rep’s attitude and comments towards our role were demoralizing and insensitive! I believe he should support the role we do in a positive way just as we support his members every day on the beat. The fed-rep made us out to be a total waste of money and I wonder if he would really care if it was a PC or a PCSO that turned up to an incident of youths causing ongoing problems in his street or a member of his family being assaulted or hurt?! Only 3 weeks ago did my PCSO colleague and I assist a PC who needed immediate assistance. The male had assaulted 2 members of the public and as the PC arrested him he pulled out a pair on 10inch scissors. I quickly disarmed the male, and I received a black eye for my troubles. Both colleagues received bite wounds but at no point did any of us back down and we finally had the male restrained. The PC showed nothing but gratitude and appreciation for our help and stated that she could have been killed if it wasn’t for our assistance! I do however agree that PCSO powers should be standardized so the public know what to expect from us. When members of the public see us on our beat, they expect us to deal with situations and solve it immediately as, after all, we are POLICE Community Support Officers!! It is hard to measure a PCSO’s work as we do not get the detections, but I guarantee is we were measured on how many incidents we attended, or how many people we stop searched or even how many wanted people we detect Mr Fed Rep would be pleasantly surprised!! I respectfully invited Channel 4 and Mr Fed Rep to join my colleagues and me on the beat and see what a typical day is REALLY like!!

    Posted by Carly on 22/09/2009 18:11:20

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14. I think that this programme was a bad portrayal of PCSO's, whom I believe do a great job, it is not their fault that they do not have enough powers, blame this on those who enforce this. The fact that the documentary says we could have more police officers rather than PCSO's is nonsense. PC's do not generally go out on foot patrol/ liase with the community as PCSO's do, they drive around in there warm cars responding to calls rather than being out there (unless is in a SNT) as PCSO's do tackling low level crime and anti - social behaviour. A member of the public is more likely to stop and speak to a PCSO to confide in. They are the ones who are the eyes and ears whom gather intelligence and get to know the persistant offenders. Programmes like this portray PCSO's in a bad way and do not help in any way, it focused on the negative rather than the positive. They should be given more powers which I hope will come eventually in the near future and more training.

    Posted by Lou on 22/09/2009 17:02:19

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15. I Agree with the comments by the Southern PCSO, and I too found your programme very hard viewing. I also agree with the comment about the PCSO and the car accident, I doubt a fully trainned officer would have done any different. In summary my experience of PCSO's has been very posative, they have earnt a lot of respect in my community from the people and in particular the youth who do not see them as a threat as they do some police officers. Yes they have limited powers but it is how they use them that counts and in my community they use them to very good effect to help stop crime. Anyone who is seen to abuse a PCSO is reported and the incident is followed up by a uniformed PC. Once this message is out there, no one abuses them either verbally or physically. In my opninion there ought to be more PCSO's on the beat as a visible deterant.

    Posted by Southern Resident on 22/09/2009 16:52:40

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16. I expected a hard-hitting, unbiased and intelligent investigation from Dispatches on this issue. However, it was an unfavourable portrayal of PCSO's and at times, plain sensationalist. I am a serving police officer, and felt bad for my PCSO colleagues watching this programme. I have a lot of respect for them, putting themselves out there with less powers than police officers, and no defensive kit. However, the most ridiculous part of the documentary was where Dispatches used the example of the drink driver not being found for hours as an example of PCSOs' failings. Aside from the individual's responsibility in getting behind the wheel in the first place, any further fault in not finding him lies with the individual searching, not the searcher's rank or PCSO's in general (as Dispatches bizarely seemed to suggest). A police officer in a hurry could have made the same mistake, possibly even more likely to, as our control room would have been on our back trying to send us to 5 more jobs at the time. To seize on this specific issue as an example of the failings of PCSOs was pure sensationalism and poor and biased journalism.

    Posted by andy on 22/09/2009 15:33:43

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17. iam a serving pcso and have an excellent working relation with my polioce collegues, However i agree that all pcso should be given all powers available to them and let them use them according to the situation that they face whilst on patrol. This would help assist members of the public in a more proactive way also police officers who get left with what we cant deal with. Bring it on.

    Posted by lee on 22/09/2009 15:16:51

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18. We run a business in the Brierley hill area and have experienced break ins over the last few years . There are regular patrols of these police wardens and just approaching them to ask about keeping a look out on your property results in a panic type conversation its nothing to do with us its Brierley hill police station you need to speak to and they make a sharp exit . Yes we the public do not understand there role and why are we not being told what they actually are there for . It seems a very big waste of tax payers money . Sorry either play a bigger role or get rid of them ..

    Posted by Tarzan on 22/09/2009 15:12:42

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19. After watching your Dispatches programme last night, I have never been so frustrated since watching Big Brother. The programme was one sided and for some strange reason it didn’t show some of the fantastic work that Pcso’s have done. What do you expect when Pcso’s have such limited powers? And they are always being slated by the media. I used to be a Pcso and I loved it, I am now a Sergeant on a Safer Neighbour Hood Team and lots of respect for Pcso’s in the Met Police.

    Posted by Michael on 22/09/2009 12:52:28

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20. Yet again, another programme that didn't give a balanced view of PCSO's. I agreed on many issues, such as standardisation of powers and defining the role so everyone knows what you can and can't do. However the programme fell flat, when it just highlighted the failures of CSO's without showing the positives that some CSO's have done; from tackling knife weilding thugs to reasuring the elderly on a problem estates. The negative views from the Police Fed were expected (as normal, old school thinking) and as for value for money, well I know normal PC's (police response) who have been there 10yrs and are getting paid over ?35K a year (nearly twice as much as CSO's). I'm not saying they don't deserve it, however when individuals go on about how many PC's they could get for cost of CSO's (FED) - they tend to look at PC's starting salary not an officer after 10yrs. As for how many crimes CSO's have detected, I would love to know how many crimes have been solved / stopped before even get going and how many criminals have been arressted as a result of CSO's high Viz patrols and Intellegance gathering, etc. The CSO role is a good role, but lacks in that fact they don't have suitable powers to deal with many incidents they come across. I'm not on about police powers such as arrest, but detaining would be good. It always makes me laugh when people say CSO's have to call for police assistance. Many police do the same, when attending certain jobs. Also if a PC was on foot patrol singled crewed and they had to make an arrest, they would also have to call for a pc to attend the scene in order to transfer the prisioner. It would have been better to look at why the role is being held back and what could be gained by improving powers and training, instead of putting it over as a waste of money and a failed experiment.. Just my opinion.

    Posted by Dave on 22/09/2009 09:20:44

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21. I disagree with most of what was shown on this programme tonight. Mistakes are made in every job and by everybody in all area of work, not just the police service. I agree with the sandardisation but at the end of the day PCSO's have powers to deal with low level crime. If you're not breaking the law then you dont have to worry about what powers a PCSO can deal with. In general PCSO's want to make a difference and actaully care about people and want to help. I cant congratulate programmes like this for their full support in trying to make the country an better place. So i say thank you Channel 4, and thank you Dispatches. I can only talk about the area i live in (South England) and its quite well known that the FEAR of crime is much much higher than the ACTUAL chance of being a victim. Programmes like this encourage the public to not believe in the public services and fuel this fear. I would say however that some PCSO's (many id expect are those who have no intention of joining the regular officers) dont know the full extent of a police OFFICERS powers. In training they are only taught what they need to know to enforce their own powers. I would say some people "slip through the net" because of this. However though all PCSO's will know when somone has overstepped the mark. PCSO's will know who lives in the area, what they are upto, who they hang around with. They will be able to identify people from these thousands of CCTV camera's that people put their trust in. If you get rid of PCSO's you might as well throw your CCTV away. David Russell is probably right, PCSO's will probably account for more intelligence than any other department.

    Posted by Oggie on 21/09/2009 23:57:48

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22. pmsl little hawood boys 2009 ! i am on this video haha with the boys

    Posted by cory m on 21/09/2009 23:55:58

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23. If we're going to hear from the representative body for police officers attacking PCSOs, wouldn't it be fair to hear the representative body for PCSOs (i.e UNISON or PCS) delivering a rebuttle? An extremely biased programme that did no justice to any of the good, hard work PCSOs have done to win over the support of the public (as the overwhelming weight of comments here indicate).

    Posted by Jon on 21/09/2009 22:52:05

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24. I am a serving PCSO and my first comment is that we are not `cops on the cheap`. We have a distinctly different roll and as the name might imply we support our colleagues. Whilst in my own force we are not directly credited with crime detections, I am pleased to say that most of my fellow PCSO`s have detected crimes and offenders have been brought to justice as a result. The work of a PCSO is varied. I myself am responsible, as part of my duties, to providing diversionary activities for young people each and every Friday night. I am proud to say that the youth drop-in I run has a membership of around 200 young people and a weekly attendance now running at around 90. My sworn colleagues would perhaps be criticised if they were to spend the time that I am able, building the bridges forged between the Police and the youngsters of the community in such circumstances. The increase in confidence is not limited to the public we serve, typically thought to be of adult age, but also with the young people of our communities who, despite a reputation of being involved in anti-social behaviour have developed a fond understanding and respect of the Police. The greater concern is accountable results. I can say that I work in one of the best performing Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNT`s). It is not by having more Police Officers, nor having PCSO`s. Positive results stems from the cooperative nature of SNT officers both sworn and PCSO`s. Indeed the success of those teams may not be measureable by using any statistical analysis alone. I believe that the program does no justice to the roll of PCSO`s. I am firmly committed to the job I do and know that the public I serve actually appreciates the work that my colleagues and I do. In essence, the term Safer Neighbourhood Team includes the word TEAM. Whether an Inspector, Sergeant, PC or PCSO, we are all part of the team that comprises your neighbourhood team. We all work to improve your neighbourhood albeit in slightly different ways.

    Posted by Brains on 21/09/2009 22:51:54

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25. I've been a PCSO in Notts for over 6 years. I have to say that this programme was one of the most biased, negative portrayals of PCSO's I've ever seen. Where were the interviews with members of public who are happy with us? Where were the interviews with PCSOs like myself who DO have all the powers, who do get stuck in and don't just stand back and watch? Why was Ben Priestley, given 10 seconds of airtime, yet Paul McKeever from the Federation had practically the whole show to himself? The government need to wake up. They need to STANDARDISE the uniform and powers and model them on either Nottingham/North Wales/British Transport Police. We have all the powers, we have decent training, and most importantly we've earned the respect of the communities we are based in. Again, I'm disappointed with such biased "journalism". It's something we've come to expect from a tabloid rag of a "newspaper", not a serious programme like Dispatches.

    Posted by Chewbacca on 21/09/2009 22:49:17

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26. I have just watched Cops on the Cheap. I don't think that PCSO's were fairly potrayed in this programme. I didn't see any interviews with members of the public to ask their views on PCSO's. I live in a town and I often see them walk the streets, something I rarely see Police Officers doing, if I see them at all. You talked about performance indicators but if you start to do that you will have the same problems you have with the police, too much paperwork and not enough time to do their actual job. The comments from Paul McKeever that he could have 11000 Police Officers instead of the 16500 PCSO's who are not trained to the extent of Police Officers seems narrow minded for someone in such a senior role. Surely it is clear that a lack of training and experience of dealing with situations lies with the people who are responsible for the PCSO's and from their comments it appears they want more authority. The programme highlighted 2 incidents where a PCSO's lack of judgement had serious implications for members of the public that were involved, but where are the statistics of incidents where Police Officer involvement is to blame? You only have to watch the footage of the G20 protests in London in April to see how well our trained Police Officers deal with situations. I have a lot more respect for someone who wants to get out there and talk to people and be a part of the community.

    Posted by Nicki on 21/09/2009 22:13:52

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27. Very disappointed, I expected more on how the role could be improved and developed. Instead it was the same old stuff, which has been done to death. I feel the programme agenda was more negative, which in effect will be even more destructive to the role of PCSOs. Does Dispatches think that PC's never make mistakes regarding dealing with incidents. Never has there been a role so vulnerable and vilified by the media.

    Posted by Chris Duke on 21/09/2009 22:11:47

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28. I feel that the main job of a PCSO: 'to provide high visibility patrols and resolve issues that infringe on a person/s quality of life' was lost on this programme. The positive work that PCSO's conduct on a day to day basis was not portrayed AT ALL. I feel more research needed to be undertaken in order to give a fair response from members of the public, most of whom, certainly in my area, feel PCSOs play a vital part of the Policing Family, providing information and intelligence that an Officer would not be able to deal with on a daily basis. I feel PCSO's are a vital part of our Police Service, that need our support, as opposed to our criticism.

    Posted by sharky25 on 21/09/2009 21:55:11

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29. I'm a PCSO and the programme raised some good issuse with our role. However it would have been nice if the programme makers had referred to the survey at the end, just to say that actually we would like things to change. Where I work we would all like a change in the way we are managed and I think without standardising our powers the public will never really understand our job. I also think our uniform should be standardised, as I'm forever hearing, 'I thought you were a council warden because you haven't got a stab vet on.' (I work in a force were stab vest aren't standard issue) and then having to go through the whole, YOU DON'T GET A VEST, I THINK THAT'S DISGUSTING. As for measuring what we do, you could turn up at a forum meeting where most of the public in there will comment on how they see PCSO's all the time and never see a PC. As for going on about how we get verbally assaulted, that's like joining the army and moaning about getting shot at, it will happen how did you ever think it wouldn't. To be honest though it's more difficult being a PCSO then you probably think. You have to patrol everyday knowing that if you could came across a person having a kicking, you have got to decide if your going risk your job by going and helping. By that I mean our role is apparently, I mean offically, non-confrontational but if something like that was happening in front of you could you do nothing? I couldn't

    Posted by daz on 21/09/2009 21:38:49

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30. I work with a large number of PCSOs and the vast mahority are great, several have since become full police officers. However where they are a flawed concept is that they constantly discover victimless minor crime (i.e. smoking cannabis), anti-social behaviour etc but then lack any capability to deal with it. Rather than take the pressure off an overworked police force they therefore create MORE work for them and this breeds resentment against them through no fault of their own. I think the better alternative to PCSOs would simply be to pay the Special Constables and make them work a fixed number of days per year, much like the old RUC Reserve in Northern Ireland.

    Posted by william on 21/09/2009 21:35:40

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31. It is disappointing that such a well respected show as dispatches failed to give a balanced view on PCSO's. Instead of only giving negative testamonials it would have been nice, and much less biased to have seen some positive testamonials. Measuring by figures and statistics isn't always the most representative and the job which PCSO's do can't always be measured, for instance, how do you measure how many crimes haven't been committed because a PCSO was walking down that particular street? Although some of the issues the programme raised were relevant I feel that the programme makers lost the essence of what a PCSO's job description actually is along the way.If PCSO's didn't do the work that they do, i.e the less desirable jobs, then cops would have to, and haven't they got other things to be doing? What is to say that they would do a better job. Having more pwoers doesn't equal more competency.

    Posted by Lynsey on 21/09/2009 21:32:43

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32. I am a PCSO who has beed in the job for a few months and while I agree there is a lot of confusion about the role of a PCSO is confusing and the powers, I feel, should be standardised throughout England and Wales. I also feel the programme showed PCSOs as officers who will not get involved in difficult situations....this is not the case, there are PCSOs who are very pro-active and get involved in any situation they come across. I have been in physical confrontations, seized vehicles, detained people, and taken my fair share of abuse. I strongly feel that I have not been trained enough to deal with a violent situation and think all PCSOs should be issued with CS as standard because yes, we are supposed to use our words to diffuse confrontational situations and if it gets violent withdraw, however this is not always possible and with nothing for protection, PCSOs are extremely vulnerable in the public.

    Posted by Ricky on 21/09/2009 21:18:39

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33. I felt the programme was somewhat unbalanced - several incidents were mentioned where PCSO's had their actions retrospectively scrutinised but not a solitary example of all the incidents where PCSO's have had their actions praised. There is disparity between forces in relation to PCSO powers and this programme succeeded in muddying the waters even more ie: detected crime rates for PCSO's. PCSO's do not investigate crime - police officers do. So thank you Channel 4-for doing nothing more than reaffirming some of the negative stereotypes of PCSO's.

    Posted by NBT on 21/09/2009 21:13:32

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34. As a PCSO with 2 yrs service i am really annoyed by this programme. There was nothing mentioned about that hard work we do with in the community reassurance visits etc. I beleive we do a lot of work to put in intell and issue stop and check forms to help get the lovcal youths that are causing trouble on the estates on ABCS and ASBO. I agree we may not have enough powers or that we should all across the forces have the same powers but there is no need to put us on national TV i am so angry by this.

    Posted by Natalie Goodhead on 21/09/2009 21:03:14

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35. It was rather ironic to see one the featured PCSOs cycling on the pavement and not using light after dark, which are within their remit to enforce other to adhere to. It is very unfortunate that many forces seem to see the role of PCSOs as very much that of replacing beat officers, when their remit is more accurately one of liason and community support.

    Posted by Dan, Surrey on 21/09/2009 20:47:07

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36. Between 1995 and 1998 I was a Sector Officer in the Special Constabulary and as such held the same powers as an every Police Constable. As volunteers we were paid expenses only (bus fare to our location) and I dont now a Special that would won't it any other way. However during my service the debate raged on whether we should be paid a retainer for our service similarly to the Territorial Army. I felt at the time that there was a case for and against. The positive being it would give Specials the opportunity to chose to do less normal work hours or part time and increase their operational hours. What would we gain from this ?. More Police on the streets with the powers needed to deal with incidents on the spot. Instead of creating PCSO's we could have expanded in an area where we have a lot of experience and people who are dedicated to their communities.

    Posted by Len on 21/09/2009 20:38:15

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37. I am a community Inspector and have a mixed team of PCSO's and Police Constables. PCSO are the linch pin of my team and provide excellent value for money. They work in their community, the community all know who they are and they never get abstracted away for other policing duties. This frees up officer time to tackle more serious crime issues whilst the PCSO's deal with anti-social behaviour and nuisance issues. Without them, the police at local level would not cope.

    Posted by Daemon Johnson on 21/09/2009 18:07:18

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38. I think that PCSO's do a fantastic job. They get involved with the community and make it a better and safer place to live. :)

    Posted by D4NNY on 21/09/2009 18:07:10

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39. PCSO's have made a great deal of difference to the area I live in. I feel they are good value for money and allow Police Officers to do more of the work that are supposed to do. I think PCSO should stand for Professional Caring Supporting Communites.

    Posted by Michael Heath on 21/09/2009 17:15:53

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40. For years we had a very bad time with drunken yobbish behaviour from the youths on our estate. Every evening there would be cars damaged, boy racers, drunken teenagers causing all sorts of issues, making you feel that it wasn't safe to go out at night. Then along came our local PCSO'S - they've done absolute wonders for our streets, the youths no longer hang around, crime is down and I now feel safe to walk to the shop inthe evening without being mobbed and sworn at. They have been a complete success and I don't know where we would be without them.

    Posted by Mrs Gibson on 21/09/2009 09:24:02

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41. Our local area has PCSO's and they are fantastic, we have no yobs hanging around anymore and they have seized cars from the boys that like to race them around our block. Well done for all their efforts..!!

    Posted by Sam Tuckers on 20/09/2009 19:06:17

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