Policing on the cheap

[InsaneApache]

Here (UK) we have a phenomenon called Police Community Support Officers, PCSO, who are more than useless when it comes to policing the streets.

At the moment the public are entitled to be irritated and confused. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it ought to be able to peck like a duck.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/com...cle2525343.ece

A spokesman said: "This decision has been taken following the tragic death of PCSO Chris Maclure in Wigan.

"The safety of officers and staff is our first priority and, while there is no suggestion the assessment process Chris underwent had anything to do with the collision, we have decided to review the nature of assessing officers who patrol on bikes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/m...er/7011292.stm

He said officers were not expected to rescue people from water and they could not see where Jordon was in the lake.

Instead, the PCSOs summoned extra help and made sure emergency services could locate the scene.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/m...er/7007081.stm

So if I read this correctly, the safety of these PCSO is paramount, over and above the safety of the public. They arn't allowed to ride a bike or attempt to rescue a drowning 10 year old. (Even though the 10 year old had saved his 8 year old sister)

Another example of smoke and mirrors from our political masters.

[Geoffrey S]

The officers in question did not watch Jordan Lyon drown. They arrived after the fact. It's a large lake and the boy wasn't to be seen. What were they supposed to do? The part where they could have done anything useful was long past, time for divers to search the lake for a corpse.

It's a usual case of the media (and here particularly the BBC, disappointingly) creating a story where there is none, turning this into a general allegation against PCSOs. While there are problems about what exactly their purpose is this apparent media crusade completely misses the mark.

[rory_20_uk]

Family decided that leaving an 8 year old with a 4 years old is OK. End result one dead kid.

I'm a Doctor. Should I have jumped in to a large body of water? If my failure to do so tantamount to murder? I'm not a great swimmer, I'm asthmatic and shortsighted. In the miraculous event I found the child chances are I'd get into difficulties myself.

I'm a doctor. But I'm not good at everything. I konw bugger all about dealing with multiple trauma after a bombing. I can't do surgery.

A I useless? No, I'm a GP. I'm good at my job, but that doesn't include everything.

ALL workers' safety is greater than that of the public! I'm not expected to risk my own life to help others, as if nothing else that is counter productive.

I'm sure you'd be posting the spiralling cost of public services if everyone was trained to do everything - spending too long on courses and not enough time doing their job.

Well, their job isn't to rescue children who frankly should have been under social services. They are paid to deal with low level crime, and on that they do a reasonable job.

[English assassin]

I'm not a doctor, or a PCSO, or a particularly good swimmer, but if I knew a child was drowning in a lake I would try to get them out. End of story

I was in a local cafe recently when three of these guardians of the community came in for lunch. Two fat dwarves (seriously, one must have been five foot) and a scrawny woman.

I am sure they are well meaning, but the only contribution these three were making to reducing crime would be if the local scrotes had to go home to change their trousers after ******* themselves laughing.

[rory_20_uk]

Well, that is your choice as a prvate subject, not a job description.

They are not there to target bank robbers or murderers, but to tell people not to litter or to take notes if people have problems.

This allows the police to concentrate on their paperwork so they can occasionally leave the station to deal with serious crimes.

[InsaneApache]

I must be living in some sort of Kafkaesque nightmare. I always understood that the first duty of a policeman was to save lives. Wait! They're not policemen!

I wonder if Manse Broon uses them to protect his life? I thought not.