Exactly one year ago this week, thousands took to the streets in an explosion of rioting, looting and violence that sparked copycat episodes up and down the country. The very first outbreaks took place after the shooting of Tottenham resident Mark Duggan by police under controversial circumstances. As the week went on and more and more people got involved, questions began to be raised about how fair the police had really been in dealing both with young people and ethnic minorities.

ON THE ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE RIOTS, ONTHEBEAT ASKS: WHAT HAVE THE POLICE LEARNT SINCE THEN?

James Toy is the longest serving PCSO on Clerkenwell Safer Neighbourhoods Team, who spends a large part of his time working with young people and tackling anti-social behaviour. As James worked during the riots himself, he is in a unique position to tell OnTheBeat what it was like and what impact they have had- both on him and the communities he serves.

“It was a scary and worrying time for everyone” he remembers. “In Islington we were surrounded on all sides by major centres of disorder in Harringey, Hackney and Camden and just seemed to be waiting for something to kick-off”.

“Our default position of patrolling the streets on our own was suspended after lone officers were being attacked in certain parts of the capital. I remember many police officers doing shifts of 20 hours or more with just a couple of hours rest before starting another. Many officers didn’t see their own beds or their families throughout a large chunk of the disorder.”

However, what really shone through for James was the way the officers handled these kinds of circumstances. “As a part of the Met, I felt proud of the overwhelming bravery of the officers who were policing the disorder. You might suspect that after being told you are surrounded by rioting and disorder and there have been incidents of officers being attacked, you’d ‘have your back up’ so-to-speak. I saw none of that and officers were continuing with their duties in a way that I’m sure Londoners and the Commissioner would be proud of.

One thing I’ll always take with me is what one resident said to me and my colleague, and that was “can’t it always be like this?” referring to the large amount of officers out patrolling the streets. She said she felt so much safer and it’s fantastic to see the police out in force like that. We were constantly getting told from members of the public to carry on and keep up the good work. It was particularly nice to feel the appreciation of the community you’re helping to serve.”

There are indeed some exceptional stories of commitment and solidarity that came out of the riots, but it is difficult to ignore claims of disillusionment with the police and with society as a whole that were touted as the whole reason for the disorder ever taking place.

James doesn’t buy into that so easily, however. “The majority of those involved with the large scale public disorder last year were nothing but opportunistic criminals” he says. “They took the advantage of the terrible situation to engage in criminal activity, not because they were angry or disillusioned with a particular group but because of a lack of morals and respect for themselves and the community they are a part of.

“Of course there were allegations that the bad relationship between the police and, in particular, young black men was a cause for much of the animosity last August, much of it surrounding the police’s use of stop and search powers. This may have been some of the cause but something which my team and myself, as well as the Metropolitan Police Service as a whole are improving. I’ve had a number of sessions with some ‘disillusioned’ youths talking about their issues with the police, which being a PCSO puts me in a better position to do, so hopefully we can improve relationships across the board.”

So have they learnt anything in the year that has passed?

James is certain that they have. “The MPS wants to convey confidence and reassurance to the public that we will do everything we can to stop anything like those events from ever happening again. We have learnt from what happened, and we have strengthened our ability to prevent them in the future.”

So what has actually been done? “There have been a number of changes throughout the Met- perhaps most significantly, the use of stop and search powers for police officers has become more intelligence led, so hopefully that will go some way to improving relations.”

You might think that the trail of destruction caused by the riots would have a negative impact on the communities it affected the most. However, James disagrees. “It seems to have strengthened the relationships in the community. We are often invited to local events and projects and since last year there seems to be a lot more involvement from all different members of the community.”

“There is still work to be done though, but with the fantastic support that the police receive in Islington from our partners at the council and other services, hopefully it is a goal we can achieve.”

The Home Office are not in the police service’s good books. Two weeks ago, on May tenth, an estimated 32,000 off-duty police took to the streets in protests at the Home Office’s  reforms and cuts. The Home Secretary, Theresa May, was heckled at the Police Federation conference.

The Police Federation has warned that the changes are  “destroying” the police.

Well OntheBeat101 has had its own dealings with the Home Office, and here is how we got on…

Some of you will remember that a while ago we asked you to give us your questions for Policing Minister Nick Herbert.

We had been in touch with the Home Office and wanted an interview with him, and initially they said it would be possible, but that he was quite busy.

Eventually they told us he was too busy to answer PCSOs questions in person, and refused our request for a brief interview.

They agreed that we could send him through the questions, and he’d write us up some answers instead.

Police march in protest at reforms

Two months to get answers

Obviously, this wasn’t quite as good as an interview in person, but we had little room for manoeuvre, and accepted. Several weeks later – and we contacted them a numerous times – they finally got back to us.

Nick Herbert, apparently, was too busy to even answer our questions in writing. A spokesman did it instead. This was almost 2 months after we’d first got in touch.

Police Anger at Home Office

Considering the PR difficulties the Home Office is having at the moment, particularly with the policing community – you might think they would be a bit more proactive in making a good impression and answering the legitimate questions of PCSOs, officers and staff.

The Home Office’s cuts have been criticized by police

Apparently not. When we finally got the answers, we were disappointed that they didn’t always answer the questions you had given us.

In the end, we decided to publish the answers exactly as they were sent to us, by a Home Office spokesperson. Let us know what you think about them by leaving a comment below!

Q. Theresa May says the Police’s only role is to reduce crime. You’ve said it’s their primary one. But we know that perception and fear of crime is damaging to individuals. How do you square the fact that there is a perception of rising crime even as crime itself has been falling? What can/should the police do to deal with this? How does the number of PCSOs affect this?

Crime remains too high. That is why we are reforming the police, so that they are free from paperwork and free to fight crime. From November Police and Crime Commissioners will be elected to drive down crime and give people a say in policing.

We are providing the public with detailed street crime data through police.uk enabling the public to hold the police to account.

PCSOs will play an important role in ensuring police resources are focused on the frontline.

Q.  Despite assurances to the contrary, the number of frontline officers is falling due to budget cuts. In such circumstances, what is the future of PCSOs?

The government’s reforms are not just about saving money.  They are about making sure police officers are able to do the job they signed up to by being out on the street and serving the public, not stuck behind a desk doing paperwork.

Our reforms will make policing better by cutting bureaucracy so officers can concentrate on their one core mission – to cut crime.

The Government strongly supports the use of PCSOs and recognises the invaluable role they play in connecting the public to the police.

Policing Minister Nick Herbert too busy to answer your questions

Q. In the wake of the allegations of racism at the Met, the chair of the Met’s Black Police Officers’ Association Bevan Powell questioned how elected commissioners would handle such a scandal. How can we make sure that Commissioners will make racism a priority when it may not be for their voters? What is the key to reducing racism in the police?

Racism, in any form, is abhorrent and has no place in our society. We take allegations of police racism very seriously.  Such allegations must be investigated thoroughly and, when and where required, perpetrators must be dealt with robustly. PCCs will be powerful advocates of the communities they serve – and who elect them

Q. A large proportion of PCs are now recruited from the within the PCSO pool (so PCSOs become PCs). Is this wise given the different skills required for the jobs?  Doesn’t this reduce the effectiveness of the PCSO role as many PCSOs now see their jobs as merely a stepping stone to becoming a PC? Is this just a way of cutting costs as it’s less expensive to train a PCSO to become a PC than to train someone from scratch?

PCSOs provide a valuable service to the public and gain real hands-on experience.  PCSOs complement the work of PC and are not intended as a fast track route to becoming a police officer.

Q. Directly elected Police Commissioners may be more easily made accountable, but why would someone outside the force be good at the job at all? Can one person represent large, varied, Constabularies such as Thames Valley? How will they deal with the competing priorities of different areas? Won’t they just prioritise those areas they know will vote for them?

The PCCs will be important figures in the communities they represent, but they don’t have to be politicians.  They could have experience in the private, voluntary or public sector and come from any background. Anyone who is interested in finding out more about the role of PCCs can visit a dedicated section on the Home Office website.

Has the Home Office failed to answer PCSOs questions?

What do you think? Are you satisfied with the answers you were given? Is the Home Office avoiding your questions? What would say to Theresa May and Nick Herbert?

We want to know your thoughts and feelings, so do leave a comment and let us know!

It’s a big and challenging job for one person, especially if not formerly involved in policing. But what qualities should such a person have? And what might the change mean for PCSOs outside London? Will the ideas floated in South Yorkshire gain support?
OntheBeat recently discussed all this with Vera Baird QC, who is currently campaigning for the Labour nomination for Commissioner in Northumbria. The former solicitor-general told us PCSOs powers were at the right level to allow them to play the role of go-between for the community and officers.

OnTheBeat conducts a mini experiment to find out how much of an influence they really have on their readers.

The data on crime and newspapers really got me thinking: with such huge variation between readers of different papers, is it the papers that influence our views on crime, or do people with certain views on crime happen to pick certain papers?

One way to find out is to compare the articles in each paper. As a small snapshot, I chose articles from two of the papers that showed very different patterns to one another in the data: The Guardian and The Daily Star.

Do the articles in each paper reflect certain types of crime?

With Daily Star readers being far more afraid of car crime than any other readers, perhaps there’s something in the articles that’s drawing attention towards it. Likewise, with Guardian readers being more afraid of violence than burglary, there might be something in their articles that reflects this.

I took the top 20 news articles from the May 5th online version of each paper and analysed them to see which words were used the most in each. The results are in the word clouds below- the larger a word is, the more it was used across the articles. Underneath each word cloud are the topics of the 20 articles:

The Guardian

Top 75 words used in the most recent 20 news articles from guardian.co.uk at around 6pm on 5/5/12. Includes UK and world news but excludes sport, comment and blog posts.

Articles:

1. Boris Johnson mayoral win
2. Mexico drug war claiming 23 more lives
3. Barack Obama’s new election campaign
4. Briton mauled by cheetahs in South Africa
5. David Cameron getting advance access to Leveson evidence
6. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial
7. Pakistan drone strike
8. Francois Hollande speech on sexism
9. Amnesty International report on Syrian crisis
10. RBS £1.4bn loss
11. Prostitute who triggered US Secret Service scandal
12. Global economy fears
13. Afghanistan mortar attack kills British soldiers
14. Olympics and the police
15. Bell ringers to celebrate Queen’s jubilee
16. Michael Gove and Ofsted inspections
17. Syrian bomb blast
18: Chen Guangcheng case
19. Cairo violence
20. Obama re-election campaign

Daily Star

Top 75 words in the most recent 20 news articles- dailystar.co.uk, 05/05/12, around 6pm. Includes all news articles but excludes blogs and sport.

Articles:

1. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial
2. Michael Gove and Ofsted
3. Stanstead airport queues
4. 94 year old attack victim
5. National Association of Headteachers attacks Ministers
6. M40 motorway closure
7. Study on birth defects
8. Link between hapiness and staying in school
9. Holiday weather
10. Egypt violence
11. Vet against animal slaughter
12. Afghanistan mortar kills British soldiers
13. Falklands advert controversy
14. Local elections
15. South Africa cheetah attack
16. Boris Johnson mayoral win
17. MoD hacking
18. Royal Navy Olympic security exercise
19. Lorraine Kelly to present Daybreak
20. Housewife knits spacesuit for rubber chicken

Looking at the patterns above, the most striking thing is that they are both startlingly similar. The focus of the topics is remarkably consistent across both papers, and six of the 20 stories were actually on the same topic across both. In fact, a number of the Daily Star articles especially were taken straight from press agencies, which also write for a number of other papers online.

However, the only thing to point out is that the Daily Star leans more towards home news stories, and included two transport stories whereas the Guardian sample had none. The most common words obviously reflect this focus and are perhaps less dramatic thanThe Guardian’s, with words such as ‘schools’, ‘people’ and ‘passengers’ versus ‘military’, ‘government’ and ‘evidence’.

Perhaps this focus on local news and transport has an effect compared to The Guardian’s frequent stories on violent foreign crises?

It’s an interesting thought. Though this is only one day’s snapshot, and it only compares the online ‘news’ sections rather than entertainment, sport and the like, it’s a revealing glimpse into what the papers are really saying. The similarities between the two were quite surprising, so perhaps the choosing one paper over another has less of an effect on our minds than we think.

What do you think? As PCSOs, how much do you think the media control our perceptions on crime? Have you noticed a change over the years? Leave your comments below.

The data I will be using will be gathered from the posts initiated by myself (Andrew!).

The first poll came from a post on March 22nd, and was enquiring how you feel that PCSOs’ feet (!!) can be better cared for given that last year PCSOs in the Sussex force took an average of 11.5 days each off sick, compared with seven for police officers. Here is how you voted:

Conclusion: The majority of voters in the OntheBeat101 community feels that that the Sussex PCSOs may need to revise how efficiently they carry out their duties and stop complaining as walking is part of their job. Less than a quarter of you feel a few more bicycles would be beneficial but no more PCSOs are needed to cope.

The next poll came from April 19th and you were asked if you agreed with the S. Yorkshire Police authority’s decision to increase PCSO numbers, rename them LBCs and make install them as the first point of contact for communities to settle problems…

Conclusion: Just over an 80% majority of you feel that PCSOs are equipped with the right tools and have the correct experience compared to normal police officers to tackle community crime.

In summary, this makes interesting reading after the previous poll, as the majority there voted against a increasing PCSO numbers for sore feet (i.e. decreasing their duties), but would happily see an increase if they were to gain increased responsibility.

As ever, we’d love to know your views so tweet us @OntheBeat101 or leave a comment below and we can discuss the stats!

Sgt Tariq Butt, who works directly with PCSOs in Manchester, disagrees outright with proposals like this. He tells OnTheBeat why he thinks PCSO powers should stay the just way they are.

Sgt Butt has been with the police for 12 years, and now oversees a neighbourhood team of eight PCs and four PCSOs. He also blogs about issues affecting the police at realityofpolicing.blogspot.com  and tweets from @TariqButt2.

WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY…

The Challenge

Sgt Tariq Butt

Out in all weather and clocking up the miles on foot patrol, imagine tackling large gangs of drunken youths or a criminal determined to get away ‘at all costs’ armed with just a high visability jacket, body armour and a torch! Oh, and not to mention limited powers…

Now that’s some of the challenges faced by PCSOs today!

The role of a PCSO is underrated and misunderstood by so many, both from inside and outside the world of policing.

What is understood though, particularly from the criminal fraternity, is the limited powers held by PCSOs, or at least an understanding of their limitations.

Whilst this is no doubt a challenge to PCSOs, I believe further powers may be detrimental to them as individuals and to the post they hold.

PCSOs

Most PCSOs I have ever worked with have been keen and dedicated individuals, who really just want to make a difference to the lives of the community that they have a responsibility too.

However, the law of averages will of course mean that there are those who underperform and those that shy away from the tougher side of the role – and in these cases robust supervision is needed to deal with them.

There is also an element particularly from some police officers who think PCSOs are just there to create more work for them.

They often hear the words ‘can I have an officer attend to assist’ over the radio, and think that if the PCSO wasn’t out and about, then whatever it is would never have been reported. If it wasn’t for those pesky PCSO’s…

Admittedly, all of this compounded by a negative portrayal in the media did cause tension in the early days of the PCSO. However, I would like to think that times have moved on – for the better.

Powers

They might not be as tooled up or have all the powers of a constable but what they do have is the ability to interact with people, communicate and build a rapport.  Not having powers can be a blessing in disguise (sometimes), as I think you actually get down to dealing with what the problem is, the root cause, rather than arresting your way out of it.

A recent example I came across was in a neighbour dispute over parking. Police officers attended, and as the two neighbours were arguing they ended arresting them for a public order offence. A few weeks afterwards, PCSOs attended the same incident, calmed both parties and then involved the housing associations and local authority, who ended up marking out boundaries and actually resolving the issue.

Giving them more powers could actually take them away from their core role and potentially alienate them from the public.

They risk losing that close link and their ability to effectively gather intelligence, acting as the eyes and ears of the community.

Benefits

PCSOs bring so many benefits. They free up officer time by conducting basic enquiries and perform vital intelligence gathering. They also have an intimate knowledge of local issues, people, offenders, crime patterns and bring police and partner agencies together. All of which can assist officers regardless of rank or role.

PCSOs do a difficult job in difficult circumstances and are, in my mind, the unsung heroes of many local communities.

What do YOU think? Should PCSOs be given more powers or should they stay the way they are? Leave your comments below.

If you missed it, check out OnTheBeat’s day out on the job with Sgt Butt’s team here. You can find more of OnTheBeat’s coverage of the debate on PCSO powers here, and in the Met Commissoner’s talk here

Onthebeat101 presents a guest post from our colleague James Pearson who is currently producing a radio documentary on the impact of crime statistics on policing in the UK:

This May for the first time Londoners will be voting for a mayor who decides the priorities and budget for the Metropolitan Police. Then later in the year in November the other 42 police authorities across the country will also have Police and Crime Commissioners directly elected by the public.

Public entitled to judge bobbies

The Coalition stresses that the public should be entitled to judge the performance of their bobbies; but how? In four years time, when the first wave of Police and Crime Commissioners comes up for re-election: will the public judge them on lower crime levels, on how safe they feel in their communities, on whether more people are being convicted of rape?

The solution the government seems to have put forward is the introduction of huge amounts of data about crime and policing into the public domain: in short putting stuff on the internet.

Crime maps a huge success

Last January saw the introduction of online street crime maps at www.police.uk. These maps allow residents to enter postcodes or addresses and see the raw statistics of how many different crimes have been reported in their area. 15 months on and it’s seen as a huge success.

453 million hits

The Minister for Policing, Nick Herbert, claims there have been over 453 million hits on the site. This year it’s extended the information, giving more details about the types of crimes in a neighbourhood, and promises the next move will be to put statistics from the Ministry of Justice onto the site, giving details as to which reported crimes lead to arrests, investigations and convictions.

As a result the maps could have a huge impact of the jobs of officers and PCSOs on the beat. But should we be judging the Police by their crime figures? Do crime statistics give an accurate account of a neighbourhood’s perception of crime, of what policing priorities they want, or even of the true level of crime in the area? And what do the Police think of being judged like this?

Over the last month I’ve been working on a radio documentary looking at these questions. I’ve spoken to residents from boroughs across London, to criminologists, to police officers and PCSOs, as well as those at the top of the Met.  Here are some of the issues I’ve identified:

• The online street crime maps are not an accurate view of the level of crime in many neighbourhoods. They reflect the police’s own statistics, and therefore measure only reported crimes. That may mean some crimes are accurately reported, such as levels of burglary, but offenses like muggings and assaults which are (pardon the pun) criminally unreported (the Home Office estimates 60% of street violence is not recorded) are not displayed accurately.

• As a result, this inaccurate data does not reflect how residents feel about crime in their area. From meeting residents in different neighbourhoods, I know that many do not recognise the picture of crime that the crime maps paint. Because of this, concerns they have are not reflected in the data, and if the Police can’t at ward or beat meetings show how they’re successfully tackling a problem, then under pressure they’ll be forced to throw greater and greater resources at it.

• Statistics, like the media or word of mouth, fuel a ‘fear of crime’ which does not reflect how much at risk people actually are. Areas with low burglary rates are just as concerned with burglary as those with high rates. In a significant number of assaults the victim already knows the criminal: so the wider public would not be at as high a risk.

• Following targets and statistics could come at the expense of listening to residents about concerns in an area. Over the last five years, the Police have moved away from dealing primarily with bringing down particular crimes, and instead focus on improving public confidence in the job they do. This means that Safer Neighbourhood Teams (dominated by PCSOs) have engaged with residents more than ever before. If these teams are forced to concentrate on targets and specific operations then they may lose this hard won connection.

• The Police themselves will not like to be judged on statistics. Whilst officers will naturally like to point out when crime maps show crime falling in an area, they don’t want to be hostage to them. If crime stays high in a neighbourhood other factors may be to blame as much as policing.

About our guest poster:

James is a broadcast journalist and friend of Onthebeat101. He is currently working on a radio documentary about crime statistics and policing. 

And if you’re wondering why the media seems to affect us so much, check out our upcoming final post in the series.

On to good old telly now, and BEFORE YOU LOOK AT THE GRAPH, try and have a think- which news channel do you think has viewers that are the most worried about crime?

Before I looked, I thought that as a public service broadcaster, with the strict rules and guidelines it has to follow, viewers of the BBC would think there was less crime than anyone else.

Not so, however. It’s actually people who watch Channel 4, out of all the main UK news channels, who have the least worry about crime being on the up. Perhaps this is due to more of a focus on foreign news and analysis, or maybe it’s a generational thing- Channel 4 News has a higher proportion of viewers aged 16-34 than any other terrestrial news channel (Source: BARB, via Channel 4 News website)

I asked the Channel 4 News presenters for their thoughts on why this might be. Krishan Guru-Murthy gives the credit to viewers themselves, but wouldn’t give away much more than that:

@katiebarnfield Because people know the chance of being a victim of serious crime is very small

—
Krishnan Guru-Murthy (@krishgm) May 02, 2012

So there you have it- nothing to do with the show itself. ITV News, on the other hand, has the most viewers who think that crime is rising- just under 20% more than Channel 4. This is particularly interesting seeing as these are the two programmes both made by ITN- it’s the content of the shows themselves that’s different.

News viewers- what are your thoughts? Why do viewers of some channels think there’s more crime than others, when all broadcasters have the same duty to be impartial?

And finally- perhaps you lament the rise of TV, think that everyone has square eyes nowadays and that watching too much TV changes the way you see the world. Well, in some ways, you’d be right – people who watch more TV are more likely to think that crime rates are rising than those who watch little or none, as shown below:

PCSOs and Police Officers- what do you think? Have you noticed a change in people’s fear about crime since TV became popular? Are people more afraid now than they used to be?

We all know about the effect the media has on society, and it’s never been hammered home more than with the continual revelations coming out of the Leveson Inquiry.

You might think it’s a given that the newspaper you choose will affect how MUCH crime you think there is on the streets, but did you know it can also affect the TYPE of crime you think is going on around you?

OnTheBeat looks into the data on how newspapers affect the way we think about the world.

To see how TV compares, check out our next post.

Perhaps surprisingly, it seems that people who choose different newspapers have widly differing views on the type of crime they think they’ll be a victim of, as shown in the graph below:

Data from the British Crime Survey 2010, the latest year available for these figures

In it, you can see that those who choose different newspapers have very different perceptions from one another. People who read the Daily Star, for example, are twice as afraid of being a victim of car crime than any other type (28% versus 14% for burglary and 12% for violent crime), whereas those who read the FT are most afraid of being burgled.

What does your paper say about you? Do you think it’s right?

Most readers, however, are more afraid of car crime than any other type. And, looking at the actual figures, they’d be right:

Data from ONS Crime in England and Wales, 2010/11 and 2009/10

It’s clear from the figures that readers of every paper wildly overestimated their risk of being a victim of any of the three types. What’s more, over the past three years, car crime has actually been steadily falling, while burglary and violent crime have only shown minor fluctuations.

However, it is true that you are more likely to be a victim of car crime than any of the other types. Congratulations, Sun, Daily Mirror and Guardian readers- you got the pattern spot on.

Out of all the papers, FT readers have the most skewed perceptions compared to the crime risk for the average person. It begs the classic question; does what you read affect the way you think, or is it the other way round? Do FT readers lead a lifestyle that DOES put them more at risk of burglary, or does the paper just make them think they are?

FT readers- what do you think? Have you ever been burgled, or know people who have? Do you worry that you will be, and if so, WHY?

We’d love to get your thoughts on anything above- so drop us a comment below or tweet us @onthebeat101

London is currently suffering from it’s highest unemployment levels since the early 90s.

Using data obtained from the ONS Labour Force Survey and an FOI request to the Met, Onthebeat can map the ratio of applicants:pcsos hired by the Met against the unemployment rate (by %) in London since the introduction of PCSOs in 2002.

Some correlation. But there are two outliers here, the applicant ratios in 2006 and 2008. Discount these, and the correlation is much more striking.

Unsuprisingly, the PCSO job attracts more applicants and becomes more oversubscribed when there is a dearth of jobs available.

If unemployment in London stays high (currently 10.1%), the Met can expect to be calling of PCSO recruitment drives early more often.

• 11% of PCSOs from an ethnic minority background

• PSCO diversity builds confidence in the service

• Work of PCSOs not being recognised

The Met was thrown into turmoil as allegations of racism surfaced earlier this month. A recording revealed a Police Constable subjecting a man to series of racist insults, including telling him: “The problem with you is you will always be a nigger.”

PCSOs reduce racism in the police

But now ACPO, the National Black Police Association (NBPA) and the Met’s own Black Police Association (Met BPA) have told Onthebeat101 of the crucial role PCSOs play in reducing racism in the police force and building better race relations with the community.

PCSOs most ethnically diverse part of police workforce

The PCSO force is far more ethnically diverse than the rest of the police force. 11% of PCSOs are from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds , compared to 4.8% overall in the police service.

This means that PCSOs are more representative of the wider community, and more representative of the communities they police. ACPO head of Local Policing and Partnerships, Chief Constable Simon Cole, told Onthebeat101: “PCSOs are the most diverse section of the police workforce”, and explained that “This diversity helps the service to build confidence in local communities.”

Good PCSOs improve race relations, say Met BPA

The Met Black Police Association agrees. John Holmes-Yarde, executive at the Met BPA told us PCSOs have a “positive effect in terms of diversity”, and said: “Good community support officers can actually improve race relations.”

“People are happy to see BME [Black and Minority Ethnic] officers out there, officers they can actually relate to.”

“If you have good community support officers that integrate with the community, it can actually improve the relations between the police and the community.”

PCSO work not being recognised

Mr Holmes-Yarde added that PCSOs are “playing a very important role in building bridges between police service and the communities.”

But he said, “PCSOs aren’t getting the recognition they deserve.”

Community Support Officers “have a special job” said Mr Holmes-Yarde, because ‘most of the time they are the first people that come into contact with the public, and first impressions usually count’.

Mr Holmes-Yarde went on to stress the need for ethnic minority role models. With a much higher proportion of BME officers, PCSOs are well-placed to play a leading role in this. Ethnic minority PCSOs can become role models

Mr Holmes-Yarde said: “There is a need for more BME officers…The more BME officers there are, the more BME role models we’d have.”

Police service should reflect society it polices

The National Black Police Association Police (NPBA) also emphasized that the force has to reflect society it polices. A spokesperson told Onthebeat101: “We need to have officers of same backgrounds as the people in the areas in which they police.”

The Met BPA executive  stressed that this was essential, saying the police should “reflect the diverse society we live in – especially in places like London which is very diverse.”

PCSOs make service more diverse

But as well as improving race relations between the police and the community, PCSOs are also helping make the service more diverse.

With many PCSOs going on to become police officers, the number of black and minority ethnic officers in police ranks is increasing.

ACPO Chief Constable Simon Cole recounted that “because some PCSOs go on to become regular constables, this can increase overall diversity within the service.”

PCSOs are the police of the future

Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe agrees. “PCSOs are the police of the future” he told us, adding that “PCSOs are a more diverse group than police officers – there are more from ethnic backgrounds, more women and therefore more representative of London.”

The NPBA noted that recruiting from the PCSO ranks was a positive step for diversity since the PCSO pool has more BME individuals to choose from.

But they said, “It’s a good thing to get BME officers into the force full stop”, irrespective of where they come from.

More training not needed

He also claimed that the police don’t need any more training on race relations. “There’s more than enough education” in the police, he stated.

Read more:

Want to know where we got our stats from? Check out the Winsor Report - the data we’ve used is on p. 369. You can also find an interactive version of the chart here.

You can find out how the Met racism allegations unfolded, read Onthebeat101’s Roundup.

And – let us know what you think by commenting below!

One of the great things about social media is that it is an equal opportunities employer.

Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and the rest are all absolutely free to set up and operate whether you are a Chief Constable, a Custody Sergeant or a PCSO (or even a police dog).

Get a real sense of what it’s like to be a PCSO

Better than that, one of the main reasons that people like to follow police social media accounts is the chance to get a real sense of what it means to be a PCSO, policeman or woman.

Every year only about 6,000 pass the police recruitment test leaving another 59,000 disappointed. That’s a lot of interested people out there.

In the world of social media, most of us instinctively disregard corporate press releases and tend to get our information more directly from people doing the job.

Front-line work is interesting

That’s the reason why many of the most popular police tweeters and bloggers are front-line staff. Members of the public are genuinely interested in day-to-day police work. It’s also the reason why Nightjack was phenomenally popular until the Times hacked into his account and spoiled the party.

There are well over 70 PCSOs regularly tweeting about their work.

Twitter is, of course, particularly well-suited to police work especially when Tweeters update regularly over the course of a shift. It’s the same principle which underlies the popularity of TV soap operas (although most of the PCSO tweeters I follow have more credible storylines than @bbceastenders).

Some stories need more than 140 characters

Sometimes, though, it’s not possible to communicate a story, or a more complex idea in a series of 140 characters.

That’s where blogging comes in.

@psco_packham blogs regularly for Sussex Police and, of course, there’s four people blogging here at Onthebeat101.

Lack of PCSO bloggers

However, there aren’t that many other PCSO bloggers about.

So, I’d like to use this blog post to encourage all you PCSOs out there to think about blogging.

The great thing about blogging is that you can write about anything that interests you. I always think that Tweeting is like a daily paper when you keep up with the news and sport. Blogging is like the Sunday papers when there’s time to read about the background or profile the characters who are in the news.

Blogging is great for engaging with the public

Blogging is a great way for PCSOs to communicate and engage with the public, and to explain in more detail some of the whys and wherefores as well as just reporting what happens at work.

I think it’s particularly important for PCSOs to get their voices heard at the moment.

South Yorkshire Police’s recent pronouncements about the possible role changes makes PCSOs vulnerable to becoming a lightening conductor for all the strong feelings about the Government’s plans for the police and the Winsor Review.

PCSOs need to be heard

Blogging gives PCSOs the chance to put their side of things in a form you can control.

And where better to start than writing a guest post for Onthebeat101?

The hardest thing about blogging is coming up with new posts all the time. Why not submit an idea here and then, if you get the taste for it, get going on a blog of your own?

About our guest poster:

Russell Webster is a researcher and writer specialising in the areas of drugs, alcohol and crime. He blogs regularly over at www.russellwebster.com where his main subjects are the use of social media and payment by results.

Want to write a post for Onthebeat101? Get in touch by emailing onthebeat101@gmail.com. Like the idea but not sure what to write? Don’t worry! We’re happy to have a friendly chat to discuss your ideas with you!

Want to know more about social media?

Take a look at our post about PCSOs on Twitter and read the Story of a PCSO on Twitter. Plus don’t forget to Like our Facebook page for more updates and info about the onthebeat team and to join in our community!

Headshot courtesy of Russell Webster.