2006-12-04 21:20:45 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Law Enforcement & Police
government cutbacks. They are soya beans a substitute for the real thing. They have the same powers as a member of the public, but they wear a uniform. more a deterrent than enforcement officer, traffic wardens(yuck) have more powers. Let me ask you a question if you go to a hospital do you want to be seen by a doctor or someone dressed in a white coat looking like a doctor without the training or instincts of a doctor. They are paid less. and chances are they applied for the real police but didn't fit the criteria.
rdenig_ma makes a valid point about the poor unfortuate member who is ill. But maybe the situation wouldn't have happened if he had been properly trained with that gut feeling you get as a police officer.
2006-12-04 21:23:34 · answer #1 · answered by ? 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
They are not "real police" they do not have powers of arrest etc, have no baton, hand cuffs or anything like mace. They are there to support "full" police officers by helping with low level crime and generally acting as a deterant to criminals and people looking to make trouble and also to help reasure the community.
They can however be witnesses in court etc so can help to convict people.
They do get paid for their work around £16k oer year and it rises as they get more experience.
They do get training, I think the initial training is about 5 weeks then they go out with other pcsos a bit like how the "real" police work.
2006-12-05 05:32:31 · answer #2 · answered by bebishenron 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Blunketts Bobbies or the Pretend Police were dreamed up by David Blunkett when he was Home Secretary,they are given a minimum of training and are paid a fraction of the wage a police officer earns.Their powers are extremely limited and is yet again an example of this government doing things on the cheap.
2006-12-05 05:34:29 · answer #3 · answered by geoff t 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
PCSO's are there to provide a high visabilty approach to policing. They are paid and training is given although this is not as in depth as regular police officers. They don't have powers of arrest or to stop and search etc but are there to provide reassurance and work in communities. Often people want to see a policeman on the beat so PCSO's are there as a deterrant and to act as uniformed presence. I certainly wouldn't say they were a waste of space. In my area there are a huge number of PCSO's and recruitment drives are frequent.
2006-12-05 10:46:15 · answer #4 · answered by loknights 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They are paid, and do have a period of training, but are not qualified police officers. Therefore their pay and responsibilities are not as great as an officer who has undertaken full training.
The principle across the public sector at the moment is that *some* of the tasks usually done by qualified staff (e.g. nurses, teachers, social workers, probation officers) can be done by unqualified staff (e.g. health care assistants, classroom assistants, social work assistant, and probation service officers) in order to free up highly trained staff to do more complex work. Some people see this as a sensible use of resources, others consider it as a de-skilling or a de-valuing of the professional posts.
2006-12-05 15:28:07 · answer #5 · answered by purplepadma 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Basically the equivalent security guards working for pay on the city streets. I feel they are not very effective in reducing crime rates and thugs just take it as a joke, but i guess they help the tourist find the shopping centres and such. I asked the local MP the other day why they don't get more police walking the beat at least on the troubled areas, his reply was we have PCSO's
2006-12-05 10:42:39 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are good people doing doing a good job . On the other hand there employers are Penny pinching gits trying to get people who are paid half of what a police officer get paid to do the same job with half the training and very few useful powers
2006-12-05 07:10:59 · answer #7 · answered by Jim G 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
More to the point, What was the ' stabber ' being evicted for anyway ? I'd guess he's another of those abandoned and neglected patients, left to his own, maybe couldnt pay his poll tax and totally handled wrongly.
Another sad and disgraceful case like the poor guy in the tube, shot seven times in the head but the other way around this time.
Same result. And they said they'd nip into Iraq for a couple of weeks and ' get the job done ' His retirement should be postponed till he gets it done....if he lives to be 200yrs old, it'll never be done, they forgot to think, we did'nt, about just over the river,
Northern Ireland, they could'nt do any good there, so they went to Iraq to do it ' all ' in a " couple of weeks "
2006-12-05 11:23:25 · answer #8 · answered by johnnydiablo 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes, they are paid. They are civilians, not police officers and have no more than any other civilian's powers of arrest, but work from the police station under the instruction/control of the police. They were invented in Blair's constituency, Sedgefield, and are all part of his increasingly paranoid attempts to control us from cradle to grave, part of his velvet fascist approach. They are the human equivalent of the myriad CCTV cameras that track everything we do.
(I am aware that one has been atteacked in Manchester and is gravely ill in hospital. I am deeply sorry about what has happened to this one individual, but it does no alter my view on PCSOs generally)
(I think the answer before me is confusing PCSOs with Special Constables, who are volunteers and who are not paid, but who have normal police powers)
2006-12-05 05:28:15 · answer #9 · answered by rdenig_male 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
PCSO...Police Constable....Special Offer.....
Need I say more.
2006-12-05 07:14:51 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋