The Telegraph reports that police community support officers [PCSOs], that cut-price innovation to waste money and appease demands for crime prevention, have proved utterly useless.
But despite their role as the "eyes and ears" of the force, PCSOs in half of the forces surveyed failed to detect any crimes. The 644 PCSOs in the West Midlands, in Northumbria (248), Nottinghamshire (217), Staffordshire (203), Dorset (122) and Dyfed Powys (77) failed to spot any offences. The figures were slightly better for Leicestershire's 216 PCSOs, who detected six crimes in 12 months, and Northamptonshire's 129 PCSOs, who spotted 20 offences. The PCSOs' record on issuing fines was just as unimpressive. The figures show PCSOs handed out on average just one fine every four months. In the past year, 27,711 fixed-penalty notices were handed out by 9,923 community officers from 29 forces. That is the equivalent of 2.8 fines each a year. With the increase in real crime experienced by the public, as opposed to the virtual falling crime that appears on the government's radar screens, PCSOs are a waste of money. They could be usefully scrapped. As knife crime has doubled in two years, reported yesterday, the knee-jerk government resonse was clear: dazzling initiative, outlaw bread knives, avoid actual problem, revisit in two years when worse. No wonder those who grapple with the issue despair: But Richard Garside, director of the CCJS, said ministers had taken the wrong approach to the issue. "The Government has embarked on endless law-and-order initiatives, yet knife-related robberies appear to be increasing if the latest figures are to be believed. "This challenges the notion that there is a policing or punishment solution to this problem. Success in tackling knife-related violence will require a concerted strategy to deal with the causes of violence, of which the social antagonisms caused by poverty and inequality are key," he said. Don't remind them that prohibition fails. Prohibit guns, gun crime goes up...I might start examining tasers to defend myself.