The post you are reporting:
OK - one last time, as you say. To take your points one at a time:
1 - Kent police and this and the previoius govt have said said PCSO's are here to stay
and even if they went(which neither believes will happen)they WILL NOT be replaced with police. Kent police and the government have said lots of things that were not true or changed with a change of politics and economics.
2 - On the question of the town centre bobby, I see him every time i go into town, and yes i see him doing eactly what ROGER feels he should be doing, of course hes not there 24/7 or at the exact time ROGER is. So maybe there should be more of him/them?
3 - Just to repeat the neighbourhood units in both Dover and fOLKESTONE are made up of PCSO's and PC's both of whom walk the beat, and/or use cars - so what is the difference and why can't we channel the funds into more PCs isttead?
4 - All i can tell you is thsat in the 16 or so wards in Folkestone the neighbourhood unit is highly appreciated. I KNOW!! That is what we have said - it doesn't stop us challenging it.
5 - I keep trying to explain why PCSO 's should NOT have the powers of a police person.
If they did, firstly they would be doing policing on the cheap,
secondly the info PCSO's obtained would be lost, with the trust of all the community. - That is the point - PCs could and should be doning the same job but with the powers that would underpin what they do.
6 - PCSO's are not police, but since there formation the police themselves have recognised its the PCSO's that gather the information, know who's operating in the community, know whats going on in the wards, know the contacts, plus so much more. Ditto the above - beat bobbys always used to do this and were part ofthe community.
7 - So I do rfealise no one is trying to put down the PCSO's but with the themes coming out of posts is the want to give them police powers which would be a disaster. DISAGREE. For all the abiove reasons.