2nd opinion: Calling for back-up

Neighbourhood wardens do a great job. Where I work in south Manchester, you can often see them chatting to youngsters – something that other people in the community also do, including local priests and even lawyers – about what they might like to do when they’re older. They will also support elderly people and generally promote community regeneration, which is the main task the government had in mind for them.

These community helpers work hard for the areas they serve, combining estate and environmental management with a good dose of people management.

But are they called on to do too much? Some housing professionals are concerned that wardens are being asked to take on work best left to the police.

The Home Office website says wardens are meant to provide a “link between local residents and key agencies such as the local authority and the police”. They are also there to “help with efforts to promote community safety”. But isn’t “promoting safety” what the police are there for?

Wardens certainly don’t get paid as much as the police. Starting salaries can be as low as £9000 in some towns in the North-west. Compare that with a starting police salary of about £19,000 outside London. And yet the line between police and warden work does become blurred when you consider that street crime wardens in particular, who have the power to issue fixed penalty notices, are required to deal with antisocial behaviour.

Wardens are meant to act as “the eyes and ears of the community”, the Home Office says, so they do end up reporting antisocial behaviour to their manager or the police. They may even challenge bad behaviour that they witness.

In some places where wardens are used, statistics appear to show a decrease in crime. But when they get involved in helping the police to reduce crime and combat antisocial behaviour, wardens open themselves up to criticism in the community that they may be selectively targeting or taking action against people without a fair investigation of the situation.

Unlike the police, wardens are also not provided with protective equipment, even though their uniforms sometimes resemble those of the police.

And surely it has to be questioned whether wardens, who don’t receive training that is as intensive as police training, are really equipped to take on the arduous task of building trust and confidence with disparate sections of the community.

Doesn’t the fact that wardens are being called on to perform some of the duties that used to be the preserve of the police also imply that the police aren’t up to the job? That they don’t have the time for, or lack the patience to deal with, the lower end of criminality such as graffiti or abusive behaviour? In many areas, wardens now provide the same kind of high-visibility, uniformed presence as the police, helping to reduce fear of crime. Sometimes they even provide higher visibility – it has long been a concern of the public that because they patrol in vehicles rather than on foot, the police are aloof from the people they serve.

In the long term, the presence of wardens is by no means assured because they are at the mercy of central and local government funding. In the end they may simply be faded out as community support officers take over. It would be a shame to lose them because, as a tool for community regeneration, they are a real asset. But they should not be relied on to deal with antisocial behaviour. That is a complex task and best left to the police.