Must we all dance to the police’s tune?

SIR – With reference to the Letter To The Editor submitted by Lincolnshire Police assistant chief constable Peter Davies (‘Police Community Support Officers and their role must not be misunderstood’, SMT, August 2005, pp16-19), judging by the three primary paragraphs therein I can only surmise that Peter must have learned his response to Andrew Williams’ original correspondence (‘PCSOs: are they really the answer?’, Letters To The Editor, SMT, June 2005, pp18-20) from the Alastair Campbell School of Spin in an attempt to deflate the debate about Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and their value. The only trouble with spin is that it is transparent and not usually based in fact.

Following in the footsteps of Street Wardens and Neighbourhood Wardens, PCSOs represent little more than another initiative by the Home Office and the police to avoid the latter having to carry out beat patrols in their communities. Yet history has always told us that the presence of uniformed police officers on foot patrol prevents crime, protects communities and assists information gathering.

To be honest, I am pretty surprised that PCSOs have received such an enthusiastic welcome from sworn officers. Why? Regular sworn officers have difficulty accepting their most valued but also most underused resource – the Special Constables. All are volunteers, and many of them are unpaid. Why? And why are security officers precluded from joining their ranks? Neighbourhood Watch initiatives would have far more value if they were released from the constraints of police control.

Following a straw poll conducted among some of my colleagues, I suggest that relatively few members of the general public know what a PCSO is, nor have they any inkling of the powers they possess. I suspect they would be horrified if they knew the truth. In any case, the general public wants to see fully-fledged police officers at the scene of a crime or on patrol.

Look at the section of Peter’s Letter To The Editor when he talks of “individuals from diverse backgrounds”. Politically correct spin! Many PCSOs used to be Traffic Wardens or Community Wardens of some sort, or perhaps have ‘emigrated’ from the security sector.

If Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair – and the police service in general – is serious about the extended police family, then PCSOs and all other community initiatives (except for Neighbourhood Watch schemes) should be scrapped in favour of developing closer links with the private security sector. Security officers are an accepted facet of life and, since many are static in their role, they are a great information and intelligence resource.

A command problem that will develop with the extended police family is an inability of the police – who see themselves as ‘the leader’ – to control the activities of those resources at their disposal. As any military commander or modern day businessman will attest, the fewer organisations under your charge the more effective the command structure.

In its rush to regain public confidence and credibility, not to mention control of the streets, the police service is now in grave danger of creating a hydra. Everyone supports the police service and wants to do their level best to help, but we don’t all wish to dance to the police’s tune at every turn.