There are comments in today's local press about the role of PCSO's. Details of that incident will be responded to later. I would like to set out some views about the role of PCSO's on general.
PCSO's are a key part of the policing team. They are not trying to be Police Officers or work to in the same way as them. They work under the direction of a police officer fighting a range of crime and disorder problems. Just some of the issues they deal with include:
- contributing to the regeneration of local communities
- increasing public safety
- dealing with truants, graffiti, abandoned vehicles, litter, missing persons enquiries
- confiscating alcohol being consumed in a public place
- helping to support victims
- controlling crowds at major events
There has been discussion about the powers of PCSO's. It would be fairly easy to give them ever more power, but this misses the point of their role. They are fulfilling the role of the visible policing presence on the streets. They are our eyes and ears. Importantly they do not seek to work based upon the use of police powers, they work with communities, finding community based problems to local issues. Because they are not called away to make arrests or take part in complex operations, they are able to spend much of their time on patrol in communities.
Police powers can sometimes not help in finding long term solutions; If you put a police officer into a situation, our experience and training leads us towards arrest or other excercise of power, we make an immediate resolution, but may not address the long term underlying situations. PCSO's have not been trained in that way, they are trained to look at those underlying situations and to work with community members to make long term improvements. We need both skill sets, we need some members of our team to be able to take immediate action when required and others to get into the heart of the community to build long term improvements.
It is easy to knock the role, especially if you have not experienced their work first hand. When I go to comunity meetings, PCSO's and the Neighbourhood Beat Manager Police Officers who work with them, are widely acknowledged as making a real difference to communities.
Of course, they are not the whole story, Policing is a complex mix of people and skills, but they are an important part of our team and are often the visible face of Policing that local communities get to see and build relationships with.
Our PCSO's are Plymouth people, choosing to serve their communities. They deserve support for, and understanding of, their role.
