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Originally Posted by Tealeaf
Gayle is right on this one and someone needs to pull Britcliffe up PDQ; PCSO's are an integral part of the police service. This is provided, in the case of Hyndburn, by the County and other than a minor consultative role, the borough has no say in operational police matters. Funding for the additional PCSO's comes from a combination of Whitehall and County, (taxes & rates) but has now't to do with Hyndburn. Once again, this clown of a council leader is claiming credit where no credit is due.
Graham is also right in stating that PCSO's have varying powers depending on the policy of the local force. When I leave my office here in London to get the bus back to my flat, I pass through the jurisdiction of three police forces within a walk of 500 yards- Met, City & BTP; the first appears to have a PCSO uniform of no more than that of a traffic warden with a reflective vest; the City PCSOs go further, wearing a stab-proof vest. Other than asking them for the time or directions though, both appear to do little.
However, the BTP PCSOs are fully tooled up with cuffs and sticks. I have seen them on several occaisions getting well stuck in and cracking heads alongside their warranted colleagues.
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Some consistency on PCSO powers needs to be applied and I don't particularly care what title people have - constable, pcso or warden. The thing that matters is that we have boots on the street who are there to assist and when neccessary to arrest. It just seems a shame that some of the hyndburn ex-wardens are not given priority for the new PCSO positions.
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I think there are some very good points here Tealeaf. It seems that both PCSO's and Wardens get the same powers, training permitted. The wardens were trained to do most/nearly all of the PRA 2002 Schedule 4 powers. Are we retraining the newly recruited PCSO's? Why did Peter say the Council was providing 15 PCSO's in the OB. Surely thats 6 still part funded and 9 wholly by the government?
I agree, boots on the streets, answerable to local people is what we need. When Peter ditched the wardens what importance was boots on the streets then as it was suggested to cut the bloated Area Council bureacracy which would pay for 12. Peter rejected this.