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From the beggining then, we wont ever see the old days, bobby on the beat, so no good keep harping on about it, and was it affective i dont know.
We have an alternative to this as has mentione being the PCSO' peter mentione the powers which i have highlighte on here on another thread.
what needs to be remembered is PCSO'S are not policemen/women and once they are given to many powers there whole reason for being in place could be lost.
Some police find it difficult to communicate an are happy to be the geezers that go from one to another arresting people
after public demand we see the introduction of n/hood policing (after a long spell of the police not listerning and believing the way forwar was to go about in cars all the time)
in n/.hood policing you have both p.c's and pcso's working close together, the pcso who o there job well will know the local business's/people etc and build up these relationships, and you will see this happening every day of the week.
)peter that if all pcso's went tommorow they would be replaced by a pc.
this could never be afforded, nor would it be a good way forward.
pcso's because they are bring communities together get information from out of control kids, drug dealers, and the list goes on,
this same information woul be unlikely to come forward to a regular pc.
So by increasing powers would mean pcso's being p;ai £10,000 less tha a pc to do the same job would you??
also they would lose a lot of respect of the local communities, and you would see n/hoods going downhill because this info would stop flowing.
the pcso role is wide and varie and for some just having a uniforme presence does the trick, although the move to short sleeves tee shirts i do wonder about.
so n/hood policing is a big step forward which i think even peter's tory party support, its getting more bodies out on the street.
you will be surprize how much info can be gathered just by walking along a roa by many differing types of people, from drug dealers, to an elderly lady out walking the dog.
long may it continue and improve it';s not far off the bobby on the beat model