Community police solve ONE crime each every six years
20.08.07
Shocking figures today cast doubts on the effectiveness of police community support officers.
They show that, on average, each one solves a crime every six years.
And they hand out fines for anti- social behaviour, public disorder or motoring offences at a rate of one every four months.
In several areas the teams, dubbed Blunkett's Bobbies after the home secretary who created them, failed to detect a single crime or write a solitary fixed penalty notice over the past year.
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Community Police Officers: they solve just one crime each in six years
By contrast, a fully-sworn police officer detects an average of 11 crimes a year.
The figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, come days after the Daily Mail revealed that two 16-year- old school-leavers had been recruited as PCSOs, earning the label "Babies on the Beat".
Last night leaders of 'proper' police officers condemned the use of PCSOs as a cheap "con trick" to make the public feel safe. Alan Gordon, vice chairman of the Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, said: "What these powerful figures show is that they deliver very, very little".
Britain's 14,000 PCSOs, who can earn up to £24,500 a year, have powers to detain suspects until police arrive and to hand out fixed-penalty notices for a range of traffic and public order offences.
But the figures suggest they have very little impact and that many have failed to catch a single crook or punish even one yob, let alone a gang.
In the past year the 2,454 community officers in the 12 police forces surveyed detected just 384 crimes. That means, on average, it takes more than six PCSOs to solve a crime a year.
They were intended to be the "eyes and ears" of their forces, but no offences at all were detected by officers in West Midlands, which has 644 PCSOs, Northumbria (248), Nottinghamshire (217), Staffordshire (203), Dorset (122) or Dyfed Powys (77).
Leicestershire's 216 community support officers detected just six crimes between them; Northamptonshire had 20 detections from 129 officers; the 145 in North Wales solved 82 offences; Humberside's 194 officers notched up 128 offences and Hertfordshire cleared up 133 crimes with a workforce of 223.
Police chiefs and ministers argue that it is not the job of PCSOs to solve crimes - they are supposed to provide a visible presence in the community and help tackle antisocial behaviour.
But their record on handing out fines for just such a purpose is far from encouraging.
In the past year 27,711 fixed penalty notices were dished out by 9,923 community officers in 29 different police forces. That is the equivalent of 2.8 fines a year each. The survey also uncovered huge differences between forces, making it a lottery as to whether offenders are punished or not.
The Metropolitan-Police, who piloted the use of PCSOs, issued just 340 fines for public order offences from their team of 3,694 community officers.
Even this was impressive compared with Staffordshire, Dyfed Powys and Suffolk, whose combined force of 403 did not write a single penalty notice between them.
In other forces, however, the community officers were busy. West Yorkshire's workforce of 690 distributed 7,388 fixed penalty notices; Humberside's tally was 3,874 from 194 officers; North Wales managed 3,132 fines from 145 officers; Gloucestershire 4,738 from 169 and South Wales 2,215 from 314.
The teams in Durham were the most prolific, with 4,541 notices distributed by 142 officers - about 32 each.
The Police Federation's Alan Gordon, said:
"PSCOs have been seen by some as a cheap alternative to police officers, who can make the public feel safe. But these figures show we were right to be concerned about what benefits they are bringing to the table.
"The public say it is nice to see PCSOs in uniform wandering around the street - which is fine until you ask them to do something."
Mr Gordon added: "What is also disturbing is that, as budgets are squeezed, we are going to see numbers of police officers falling as PCSOs increase."
Chief constables are under pressure to employ more of the cheaper community officers rather than full-time sworn officers.
In the past year the number of PCSOs nationwide has risen from 7,000 to 13,748. Figures released recently under the Freedom of Information Act show that eight of the 43 forces in England and Wales expect to recruit more support officers than police by 2008.
The Home Office said last night: "Detecting crime and handing out penalty notices is not the primary function of PCSOs - they are there in a supporting role.
"To attempt to measure their success solely by looking at the number of penalty notices and crimes they detect is to miss the point. Their primary role is to provide high-visibility reassurance, build confidence in communities and support police officers".