Blunkett's Bobbies lock themselves in room in fear of a 13-year-old

[AB Asks]

The community support officers were carrying out a routine visit to a children's centre when one boy started arguing with a staff member. The officers then hid themselves in a room and locked the door and waited for the real police to arrive. The purpose of these community support officers is to offer 'visible public reassurance'. What do you think? Are these 'officers' a total waste of time? Or are they good at what they are trained to do and we can't expect them to go beyond their call of duty?

[naomi24]

Gromit, I know exactly what they are - and generally they are, quite clearly, not up to the job - however their actions are reported.

[Gromit]

naomi24

How can you say they are not up to the job, when their job is to do nothing.

They are a merely a visible presence. They are instructed to call the police when they encounter any crime in progress, which is very, very rare. Any dimwit could do that, and they frequently do.

The Police are so well paid these days that to recruit more of them to replace the PCSOs would cost an absolute fortune. Walking the streets is not a good way to tackle crime. A beat PC would walk several weeks before they encountered a crime.

On average a PCSOs will go for 4 months before they are called upon to exercise their duty.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles /news/news.html?in_article_id=476468&in_page_i d=1770

So you are calling for a massive increase in spending for no or very little resulting improvement.

[naomi24]

Gromit, their job is to do nothing? Perhaps you should do a little more research.

http://www.policecouldyou.co.uk/pcso/overview. html

Au revoir.

[Gromit]

naomi24

Menial tasks - Not worth paying �30K for:

deal with minor offences
offer early intervention to deter people from committing offences
provide support for front-line policing
conduct house-to-house enquiries
guard crime scenes
provide crime prevention advice