Police Community Support Officers
326. Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) were
introduced by the Police Reform Act 2002. Initially, Chief Constables
could choose which powers to designate them with from a list of
potential powers given in the Act, but their primary purpose was
to provide a visible police presence and undertake a problem-solving
approach to community concerns. They do not have powers of arrest.
327. Much of the media coverage of PCSOs has been
negative, giving an impression of PCSOs as 'second-rate' police
officers or 'plastic policemen' and focusing on a few occasions
where individual PCSOs have been seen as failing to fulfil their
duties.[372] However,
the East Midlands collaboration told us this does not correctly
reflect public reaction to PCSOs: "PCSOs contribute significantly,
interacting with the community and meeting public demand for visible
policing. They receive high public acclaim and are responsible
for positive public feedback, contributing to increased public
satisfaction."[373]
328. A national evaluation of PCSOs, published in
2006, found that:
CSOs were providing a service that was highly
valued by the public, businesses and police officers. They were
more of a visible and familiar presence than police officers,
who had other demands on their time. The accessibility and approachability
of CSOs meant that the public were more likely to pass on information
to CSOs that they may have felt was too trivial for a police officer.
The public appreciated the CSOs' role in engaging with young people
and dealing with ASB [Anti Social Behaviour]. The diversity of
CSOs, particularly in terms of ethnicity and age, has been one
of the successes of the implementation of the role.
However, the report also highlighted some aspects
of their deployment that needed further consideration, including
turnover, supervision and training.[374]
329. Twenty standard powers and duties for CSOs were
introduced from 1 December 2007, including the power to issue
fixed penalty notices for offences such as cycling on a footpath
and littering; the power to require name and address in a number
of circumstances; power to require persons drinking in designated
places or who are underage to surrender alcohol; the power to
seize drugs; the power to enter and search any premises for the
purposes of saving life and limb or preventing serious damage
to property; the power to remove abandoned vehicles; the power
to enforce cordoned areas and to stop and search authorised areas
under the Terrorism Act 2000; and the power to photograph persons
away from a police station.
330. Some additional powers remain at the discretion
of the chief constable, including power to issue penalty notices
for further offences such as disorder, truancy and graffiti; power
to detain a person whom a PCSO has reason to believe has committed
a relevant offence; power to use reasonable force in relation
to detained persons and to prevent a detained person making off;
powers to search for alcohol and tobacco; and powers to disperse
groups and remove persons under 16 to their place of residence.
331. The Police Federation has been very critical
of PCSOs in the past. Their current Chairman, Paul McKeever, admitted
that many Federation members now cite successful team-working
with PCSOs, although the Federation "would still like to
see fully warranted officers rather than Community Support Officers".[375]
Their General Secretary, Ian Rennie, added that "PCSOs were
introduced for really good reasons: a high-profile, public reassurance
out in the communities—the eyes and ears of the police",
but he warned against giving PCSOs powers to deal with confrontational
situations: "I think it is important that that role is controlled
and it does not stray into the use of police powers, otherwise
all you are introducing is another tier of policing".[376]
332. Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison also argued
against increasing PCSO powers:
PCSOs do a different job to police officers.
Police officers are traditionally a visible, accessible, familiar
presence on the streets of the United Kingdom. What has happened
in the recent years is that as they have been drawn in to deal
with the greater amount of paperwork and the greater demands of
the criminal justice system, et cetera, we put them out; they
are out there for 10 minutes, they make an arrest and then they
are in the station for the rest of their shift. PCSOs do something
unique. They wear the uniform of the local constabulary and walk
the beat of a dedicated area day-in and day-out, thus restoring
that visibility and familiarity. PCSOs should not be given any
more powers than are commensurate with that role. Giving them
additional powers that take them off the street would be throwing
the baby out with the bathwater.[377]
333. The Mayor of London, on the other hand, supported
a cautious extension:
I do think it would be a good thing if PCSOs
did have greater powers. Unfortunately, it is not possible to
give them powers of arrest without effectively removing the distinction
between them and the warranted officers. What we have done is
give them greater powers to issue fixed penalty notices for minor
offences of one kind or another—nuisance parking and that
kind of thing. That has moved a small step in the direction I
would think. There is a genuine difficulty in that the more you
beef up the PCSOs, the more you run the risk of eroding the distinction
between them and the warranted officer.[378]
334. The Police Federation noted that a lot of criminals
are aware of the fact that PCSOs do not have full powers, and
take advantage of this.[379]
There have been reports of PCSOs been ordered to withdraw 'for
their own safety' after confrontations, for example in Biggin
Hill in Kent.[380]
The Home Office will be evaluating the standard and discretionary
list of powers by the end of 2008. In its recent Green
Paper, the Government set out its view that the most valuable
contribution to policing made by PCSOs is high visibility patrol,
reassurance, community engagement and problem solving, while "within
the police workforce only holders of the Office of Constable should
have wide-ranging coercive powers applicable in the community
at large".[381]
The Home Secretary has since announced her view that all police
community support officers should be given powers which would
allow them to be able to detain suspects until a police officer
arrives.[382]
335. In our report on Police Funding, we expressed
concern that substantial numbers of PCSOs were being deployed
inside police stations rather than on front-line duties, as the
intended purpose of PCSOs was to provide a more visible public
policing presence. We welcomed undertakings by the Government
and the Police Federation to commission research into how PCSOs
are used and recommended this research be commissioned as a matter
of priority.[383] During
this inquiry we were told that 75% of PCSO time was spent on the
beat.[384] Sir Ronnie
Flanagan was "confident" that PCSOs would not be drawn
back into stations to cover bureaucracy.[385]
However, a study by Kent Police found that one of the reasons
PCSOs have had less of an impact than expected is that they spend
two-thirds of their time filling in forms.[386]
336. Louise Casey drew attention to the lack of standardisation
in PCSO roles and powers, as well as uniforms.[387]
The Minister of State told us:
We are already looking and taking seriously the
notion of the standardisation of uniform nationally so that wherever
you are in the country, you know what a PCSO looks like …
and a lot of them did look very, very much like utterly indistinguishable
police officers. Last November we looked at a first cut of standardisation
of powers and put a whole host of powers on a statutory basis
that all PCSOs up and down the country would have, but then added
a whole load up to and including the potential for half hour detention
before a police officer arrives and put that second swathe into
the discretionary category at the discretion of the Chief Constable.
Louise Casey's review said very clearly she thought that was confusing
and rather like a warrant officer there should be a whole array
of powers potentially at the disposal of a PCSO and then they
would be tasked accordingly within that.[388]
337. We agree that the primary role of PCSOs should
be to provide a visible presence, act as the "eyes and ears"
of the police service and facilitate community engagement exercises
undertaken to inform local priority-setting. However, we support
a cautious extension of their powers so that all PCSOs are awarded
powers that are currently at the discretion of Chief Constables.
Moreover, the Home Office should consider piloting the provision
of a warrant card to allow PCSOs to make arrests in exceptional
circumstances, where lives are in danger. We understand that this
will require more rigorous training and supervision. PCSOs should
not undertake any more than the bare minimum of bureaucracy necessary
to the role and should not be based in police stations.
338. The public needs to be made better aware
about the role of PCSOs. We believe that, in addition to standard
powers, PCSOs across the country should wear the same uniform,
as the current disparity is confusing to the public. We hope
that PCSOs are now accepted as full members of the policing family.
Diversity
Women
339. Women represent 24% of police officers, 44%
of PCSOs and 60% of police staff.[389]
Recruitment figures are encouraging, however: in Thames Valley
Police women comprise 40% or 45% of the new intake.[390]
340. In an interview with Police Review, Assistant
Chief Constable Suzette Davenport cited research for the British
Association of Women in Policing, which shows that without affirmative
action, it will take another 15 years for women to reach the Home
Office target of 35% representation. Under the affirmative action
scheme she proposed, every person recruited would have to achieve
the stipulated required standard, employers would only take members
from a pool of qualified applicants and the scheme would be time-limited.[391]
341. Women still fall behind in the senior ranks:
12% of senior police officers (Chief Inspector level and above)
are women[392] and
only five forces in England and Wales are led by female chief
constables. This is partly to do with the length of time it takes
to progress through the ranks, and so increased intakes in recent
years will take a while to penetrate the highest echelons. More
worryingly, resignations from female police officers are twice
as high as from their male counterparts, with one woman in four
citing domestic responsibilities.[393]
342. Cultural reasons may also prevent women from
progressing, even though structural barriers may have been removed.
Chief Constable Thornton told us:
We need to challenge the idea of leadership as
a white, male leader … Every time we do these exams, the
sergeant and inspector exams, there are some people in the top
1% or 2%. I get a list of names, and I always invite them up for
a cup of tea and a chat. It strikes me that I often have as many,
if not more, women in that top group than men. When I ask them
all the question, "What are you going to do now?" there
is a tendency amongst some of our women to say, "Well I'm
not going to get promoted straight away. I just need to do a bit
of this or a bit of that, then I'll be ready" and a
tendency for men to say they are going for it.[394]
She argued for more networks and mentoring schemes
for female officers.
343. Although the service is a long way from meeting
the Home Office target for women in the service, we are encouraged
by the proportion of women entering the service and do not support
the introduction of affirmative action. We are concerned at the
significantly higher levels of resignation from female officers
and urge forces to offer more flexible options to make it easier
for women to remain in the service. There do not appear to be
structural barriers to women progressing through the ranks, but
we believe there should be more mentoring opportunities throughout
the service to support women in applying for promotion.
BLACK AND MINORITY ETHNIC OFFICERS
344. Following the Macpherson Inquiry, the police
service was set a target by the Home Office for black and minority
ethnic (BME) officers to comprise 7% of the workforce nationally
by 2009. Progress against the target is set out below.[395]
There are 5,793 full-time equivalent BME officers as of 31 March
2008, representing 4.1% of the service. More encouragingly, 7%
of staff are BME and 11 of PCSOs.[396]
