COMMUNITY\u00a0support officers are being used \u201cinappropriately\u201d in forces across England and Wales and are being \u201cdrawn into a response style of policing\u201d, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary has warned.<\/p>\n
The watchdog\u2019s report, \u2018Core Business: an inspection into crime prevention, police attendance and the use of police time\u2019 found that 17 forces in England and Wales, CSOs were being used sent to incidents beyond their role or training.<\/span><\/p>\n HM inspector Roger Baker said they were being utilised by some forces to attend house burglaries and some assaults.<\/p>\n He said it was important to \u201cmake sure they are being used in the way that they were intended.\u201d<\/p>\n The report added: \u201cIt would appear, therefore, that in these forces PCSOs are being drawn into a response style of policing \u2013 that is, being used to respond to general calls for service from the public \u2013 rather than being used in the visible, community reassurance role for which they were intended. This is inappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n There are currently 13,066 community support officers in the 43 police forces in England and Wales.<\/p>\n HMIC, in one of the 40 recommendations in its report stated that \u201cby 31 December 2014, all forces should ensure that CSOs are not being used to respond to incidents and crimes beyond their role profiles, in respect of which they have no powers, or for which they have not received appropriate levels of training.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Baker, a former chief constable of Essex Police, added: \u201cCSOs are being used well beyond their powers and their roles \u2013 they are being asked to be detectives, but they are not trained or skilled to carry out the role.\u201d<\/p>\n HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary Tom Winsor said: \u201cThe oxygen of effective policing is intelligence. Information is useless if it cannot be found and used at the time and in the circumstances in which it is needed.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd in policing, if it is inaccessible to those who need it, great harm may occur which could and should have been prevented.\u201d<\/p>\n