In tandem, they hand out fines for anti-social behaviour, public disorder or motoring offences just once every four months. By contrast, a fully-sworn police officer is likely to detect an average of 11 crimes in a given 12-month period.
Dubbed ‘Blunkett’s Bobbies’, Britain’s 14,000 PCSOs aren’t meant to solve crimes for their GB pound 24,500 salaries. They are intended to be the ‘eyes and ears’ of their locality but, of the 12 police forces surveyed, no offences at all were detected in the past year by PCSOs in the West Midlands (644 are employed in that region), Northumbria (248), Nottinghamshire (217), Staffordshire (203), Dorset (122) or Dyfed Powys (77). Hardly a success story, is it?
Meanwhile, Leicestershire’s 216 PCSOs detected just six crimes between them. Only 20 incidents were reported by 129 PCSOs currently operational in Northampton.
In the past 12 months, 27,711 fixed penalty notices were meted out by 9,923 PCSOs across 29 different police forces. That’s the stunning equivalent of 2.8 fines per year per PCSO. Given that the Metropolitan Police pioneered the deployment of PCSOs, it’s shocking to learn that just 340 fines for public order offences were generated by its 3,694-strong squad.
Looking at these grim statistics – and armed with the knowledge that eight of the 43 police forces across England and Wales expect to recruit more PCSOs than fully-fledged police officers come 2008 – isn’t it about time we started to seriously question the Government’s strategy on this issue? What benefits are PCSOs really bringing to the table?
PCSOs cost the taxpayer at least GB pound 10,000 per annum less than full-time police. They are trained for three weeks as opposed to six months. Unlike police officers, who will observe and engage, PCSOs can but observe and report.
These ‘plastic bobbies’ are now beginning to replace full-time police personnel. The danger here is that sworn police officers will become de-skilled. As time passes, there will be no alternative but to afford PCSOs more powers. Surely that undermines the excellent work carried out by the police service, while at the same time eroding its status?
Brian Stockham – chairman of the Sussex Police Federation – hits the nail on the head: “We need more full-time police officers, not less.” That’s the only way to truly “provide high visibility reassurance and build confidence in communities.”