PCSO's waste of space?

Question

PCSo (Police Community Support Officer) are they a waste of space! I think so! they are paid to walk the streets in a uniform similar to regular police officers they have the same powers of arrest as everyone else in the whole country! They are starting to replace regular police officers out and about as they are cheaper, so you get more for the same price! What we need is REAL Police officers out and about and "Paper pushers" to chase up the statements and processing the paperwork etc, so that officers with the POWER OF ARREST are on the streets where they are needed!


What do you think?

Answer 1

I agree and add to that a lot of them are meglamaniacs "dispersing" teenagers who are simply walking hom,e from school. One such case came up were a PCSO "dispersed" a "gang" of two teenagers who were browsing HMV even though the store manager protested and the teens were not doing any harm. They obeyed but met up later and are now facing an ASBO for absolutely no reason other than we have non-skilled plastic police walking round flexing their muscles.

Answer 2

The introduction of the PCSOs was a further politicisation of the Police by an all too controlling Labour government. PCSOs are not uniformed Police Officers and are therefore not able to join the Police Federation. Now you just watch the government extend more powers to PCSOs and eventually you'll see them start to outnumber regular Police Officers. The government is really pushing this because it is backdoor policing and it means that they can high and fire and change the working practices of PCSOs a lot easier and faster than trying to go through the Fed. The Police always have been independent and apolitical but with the introduction of the PCSO concept the government has started to slowly ebb away that neutrality. I highly suspect that in the future PCSOs will be a political pawn with the party in power gaining easy votes by bestowing powers on them that are traditionally held by regular Officers just so they can argue they are winning the war against crime. It will eventually mean we have less than professional, less than highly trained Police forces with the end result being that the Police will be controlled more by the Home Office and less by Police Authorities and Police Forces and Constabularies. If you don't believe me I refer you to John Reid's recent recommendation to split the Home Office in to two separate departments, one with an exclusive remit to focus on homeland security, ie: policing.

Answer 3

In my area PCSO's have to work in pairs so they are actually more expensive than a PC, (i.e. 2x£20 000 vs 1x30 000), although their training is considerably cheaper because they don't receive much. Their powers are so limited at the moment they're little more than a visible uniform. They have to call for a PC to deal with anything bar the most trivial of incidents. They're also able to join a union and therefor, unlike police officers, they have the legal right to go on strike.
I feel PCSO's are just a political pawn to enable the government to claim increased numbers of uniforms on the street.
Their impact on the daily work of police officers is negligible.
Don't blame the PCSO's for this. They're well meaning people trying to do a job. Its the system that's ineffective.
We need people who are able to assist the police by dealing with the mundane, tedious, repetitive and mostly pointless tasks that are heaped on them on an ever increasing basis, this would enable the police to continue with real police work.
I can't imagine too many people would be volunteering.

Answer 4

I agree with the 'more bobbies on the beat' opinion although PCSO's are a good resource for certain tasks.
However, it is a cheaper way of having more 'bodies' out on the streets.
In my experience, most start as PCSO's in order to get into the Police full time anyway.
As for everyone who is blatantly criticising PCSO's, find out what they actually do and then form an opinion. They do more then you realise and help to free up regular officers for more important tasks like 'catching real criminals' ; )

Answer 5

Not true, they are the eyes and ears of the community. They have replaced the old beat coppers who were deemed too expensive. My son has spotted quite a few people who have had outstanding warrants out on them and got them arrested by being out and about in the community. If you think that they are a waste of space you must consider nursing auxiliaries a waste of space as well, as it is the same sort of comparison with qualified nurses.

Answer 6

I don't know how you feel protected at all by the police in England.
I live in Northern Ireland and our police are armed and I hope it doesn't change. I for one feel a certain amount of security knowing that if I'm in a situation where I need to call on the police, they will arrive prepared to protect me in any situation.

Answer 7

Yet another example of Politicians meddling in something they don't understand and coming up with a cheaper option.

The public want BOBBIES ON THE BEAT not uniform carriers.

Answer 8

charm has made a good point in n ireland and the south our police or garda are armed to the teeth this is what is needed in england not all places but hotspots around england were there is a lot of gang culture believe me if our police were in england in some dangerous areas walking around armed to the teeth the crime in that area would drop dramatacly but england is to soft and the ganges know that they say england is like n ireland but believe me were are so far apart our psni or guarda take no s hit i know

Answer 9

ahhh the good old plastic copper....yeh about as much use as a chocolate teapot and considering they are on £20k+, thats better than walking streets eh....oh that's right thats all they do i forgot!

Answer 10

Thanks for answering my question but in fact PSCO are a waste of space and specials are not because we were around before the regulars, before the government and im sure you will understand when i type...FOXTROT UNIFORM!