Dave Lockerman 1.3.2010

Dave Lockerman 1.3.2010

PCSO scrutiny

For the last six months we have match funded a designated BHA PCSO who works with our Safer Communities Team. We also have a lot of general interaction with the PCSO’swith regards to tackling ASB and making our communities safer places to live.

General observations are:

In general terms we have seen the PSCO as an important and effective resource for the Police. They definitely serve as a visible presence and we often see them within our communities, if we are seeing them it is therefore likely that our residents are. We also receive good feedback from residents meetings.

Some of the PCSO’s are extremely proactive and will identify the role of housing perhaps more than the Police intervention teams will. They are very forthcoming with information concerning our communities and our residents and have worked closely with us, providing us with valuable evidence to enable us to take effective action. This has included witness statements in our legal proceedings.

Our BHA PCSO is working very well, playing an excellent link between ourselves and our residents. The role also enables us to tackle perception as our PCSO is at hand at resident meetings and accompanies our ASB Caseworkers on specific case visits, offering reassurance and an input from a Police perspective. Sometimes as I am sure everyone is aware the public have a misconception that the Police aren’t interested, the role strongly helps us mitigate against such misconceptions. The role also plays an effective link between us and the Police strengthening our already strong partnership.

We have also worked closely with the School PCSO to establish a set of ASB related theatre productions in secondary schools.

In general terms the PCSO role has capacity to spend more time with people. The difficulty with intervention is that they are continually busy going to job to job to job. As a result their interventions tend to be more of the sticking plaster type. PCSO’s seem to be more able to dedicate time to deal with issues that are a low level but by doing this prevents issues escalating. PCSO’s are also generally aware of the communities they work within, possessing a lot of local knowledge.

We have noticed a high level of turnover with individuals using the role as a stepping stone in becoming a PC. It is good to see individuals developing and moving on and I am sure you would have this in most jobs. However there is an implicit danger that perhaps a persons heart isn’t in the role as it is just serving as a means to an end. How you deal with this however, we have no suggestions!

There has been a mixture of very proactive PCSO’s and PCSO’s who we hardly see and do not interact with us concerning the community. There could be all kinds of reasons for this but the previous point and de-motivation could be a factor caused by limited powers and targets. We have heard stories from PCSO’s where youths have been abusive to them and they have not been in a position do much about it. No doubt this is disempowering for PCSO’s but also adds to the media driven perception of “plastic policemen”. However, we have no comments on the powers they should have. This should be ascertained by speaking to the PCSO’s and asking them what tools do they feel could help them to be even more effective.

We have a concern relating to top down targets. We did find that our PCSO was being set targets regarding the number of FPN’s issued, stop and accounts, etc. This was to allegedly improve public perception. This troubles us because it would seem to be waste, if a PCSO comes across an offence and deals with it by way of an FPN then fair enough. However, by setting targets of this nature it would seem that the emphasis is being misplaced and you are creating the following problems as most targets do:

1. Cheat

One common reaction is to cheat to meet the target, how else can workers get better or quicker? To do the right thing by the customer will often mean that targets have to be cheated.

2. Tell the truth

The other option is to be honest and face the music and we have found that PCSO’s have been taken to task for not meeting FPN targets

3. Chase the target but do the wrong thing

Focus on meeting the target which would mean perhaps taking the focus off other issues which could have a much greater impact on the community. There is also a danger that you are designing out discretion, giving the individual little choice in how to respond.

So in a nutshell we do think they work and have a part to play in helping us achieve safer communities. However, we feel that targets can act as a de-motivator and offer little in value to the public. Instead of targets we feel that the emphasis should be on the Police analysing demand, understanding what is predictable and using the PSCO as a useful resource in dealing with this. This may mean changing duty times, but this should be based upon analysis rather than assumption. The PCSO is also likely to better placed in being a reactive resource to respond to calls quickly where Intervention are unable to do so offering reassurance, guidance, support and in instances resolving the matter completely thus improving public perception through individual transactions.

Dave Lockerman

Housing Services Manager

Broxbourne Housing Association

01/03/10