Community Policing

CSOs are police authority support staff. They are intended to be used on high-visibility foot patrol, providing a strong anti-crime presence, and reassuring the communities they serve.

They complement the work of police officers by focusing predominantly on lower level crime, disorder and anti social behaviour. As such, they are an important weapon in the Government's drive to crack down on anti-social behaviour.

The Police Reform Act allows chiefs of police to designate CSOs with sufficient enforcement powers to enable them to perform their duties effectively. Having a strong CSO unit capable of dealing with minor nuisance crimes can free up regular police officers to concentrate on more serious crimes.

Absolutely not.  We have made it clear that the police service has the resources to maintain record numbers of police officers.  CSOs are an additional resource which complements the role of constable.

Neighbourhood wardens and street wardens are generally managed by local authorities, while CSOs are police authority employees under the direction and control of the chief constable. CSOs focus on low-level anti-social behaviour, and assist regular officers at crime scenes. They can be given a range of enforcement powers, as set out in Part 1 of Schedule 4 of the Police Reform Act 2002.  CSOs are intended to free regular police officers from spending time on tasks that do not require their extensive range of skills.

CSOs should be recognisable to the public as police staff, but should also be visibly distinct from regular police officers.  The uniform is described in the ACPO Guidance on Police Community Support Officers at www.acpo.police.uk, under “Policies” and “PCSOs”.

Each chief constable sets the training requirements for their CSOs, and decides the powers their CSOs will have. The training is provided locally.  There is a national CSO training package provided by the Central Police Training and Development Authority (CENTREX) for use by forces.

Each force will decide this for its own CSOs. Health and safety considerations - such as levels of training and risk assessment - should guide local decisions. As with regular police officers, single patrolling should be the default option where practicable. This will increase the amount of uniformed reassurance CSOs are able to provide.

Chief officers need to be satisfied that a person is suitable for the CSO role. The candidate should be capable of effectively carrying out their job functions, and they should have received adequate training. Chief officers will also need to decide the uniform, powers and equipment to be used by their CSOs.

When on duty, each CSO needs to carry a document that they can produce to a member of the public, if asked, which details their designated powers.

Yes, the Police Reform Act allows chief officers to designate staff in one or more roles. The chief officer needs to be satisfied that the person is suitable for, and capable of, executing each role and has had sufficient training.

This varies from force to force.  CSOs can be designated with a range of powers by the chief constable.  The powers they need to enable them to deal with the sort of issues they come across on patrol is essentially an operational judgement.  View a complete list of CSO powers.

The Police and Justice Act 2006 enables the Secretary of State to introduce a standard set of powers for all PCSOs.  In June 2007 the Home Office carried out a short consultation with key stakeholders on a proposed list of standard powers for PCSOs.  That has now been completed and the summary of responses can be downloaded.

The Order to introduce standard powers for PCSOs was laid before Parliament on 19 July 2007 and is subject to affirmative resolution in both Houses of Parliament.  Updates on Parliamentary progress will be placed on the PCSO webpage.  Subject to Parliamentary approval,  the Order bringing in standard powers and duties for PCSOs will be commenced on 1 December 2007.

Although a range of new powers were made available by the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act, as part of the Government’s programme of workforce modernisation in police forces we are continuously reviewing the powers of CSOs and are seeking on this occasion to establish a framework for their future development, whilst ensuring that, through establishing a set of standard powers for CSOs, they all have sufficient powers to play a full role in neighbourhood policing.

The Government feels that, in order to contribute fully to neighbourhood policing, CSOs should be given a robust set of powers. However, we would like to seek views on these proposals through the consultation process.  Generally speaking, we do not want CSOs to be a paler shade of police officer, nor do we want them to take on duties that would remove them from the streets and leave them handling the paperwork involved in many criminal cases.

A list of the powers that are being proposed as standard can be found at Annex A of the Consultation Summary Standard Powers for Police Community Support Officers.

Currently, the powers available to CSOs vary from one police area to the next. This can be confusing for the public and can sometimes lead the public to mistakenly think that CSOs have no powers at all.

Establishing a set of standard powers for CSOs will bring a variety of benefits to police forces and the public. By ensuring that CSOs have a robust set of powers at their disposal, standard powers will ensure CSOs can contribute fully to neighbourhood policing and deal with more issues, on the spot, without recourse to a police constable. Standardising powers will also help foster a general agreement about the role of the CSO across the police service. A set of standard powers for CSOs will also increase public understanding of their role.

Yes, to an extent. However, it is anticipated that there will be economies of scale by training CSOs in a wider range of powers at the outset of their employment rather than having to bring them back off the streets each time they need to be trained in a new power which they are going to be designated.

There are three offences against designated staff, which apply to CSOs. The Police Reform Act 2002 section 46 sets out the offences in detail. They are:

• Assaulting a designated person in the execution of their duty
• Resisting or wilfully obstructing a designated person in the execution of their duty and
• Impersonating a designated person.

Yes, but the individual's training needs to cover all aspects of this dual role. The individual would need to be appointed as a traffic warden using current procedures and then also designated as a CSO by the chief constable.

CSOs with traffic warden powers need to wear a CSO uniform appropriately badged in accordance with Home Office Circular 65/2002.

The complaints procedures laid down under part II of the Police Reform Act 2002 to ensure that police officers and staff are fully answerable for their actions, including making the complaint to the Independent Police Complaints Commission  (IPCC).

Information from Forces indicates that, as at the end of April 2007 there were over 16,000 PCSOs in England and Wales.  Information on Community Support Officer strength by Basic Command Unit: 30 June 2006 can be found using this link.

You may be able to find out more information about community support officers on the Internet site of your local police force or for recruitment, by contacting their Human Resources Department.