West Sussex local policing Superintendent Nick Dias said: 'Keeping the public safe and feeling safe is paramount and our officers and PCSOs work hard to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour, often in challenging circumstances.'
This one didn't. This one didn't work at all, did he?
'We [work] closely with local retailers and partners to help prevent and respond to anti-social behaviour and assaults on shop workers.'
You didn't 'prevent' and you certainly didn't 'respond'....
'We are sorry for the clumsy language used by the PCSO in this exchange and acknowledge the public's concern.
'A police unit was dispatched to the scene as a matter of priority. Our response to this incident is being reviewed.'
Let's hope that PCSO's career is, too...
PCSOs are as useful as a chocolate fireguard. Introduced by some numpty in government to try and fool the public into believing there are more Police officers around than there really are. Don't work unsocial hours, when most of the anti-social behaviour takes place; when it's raining, or cold, can usually be seen 'patrolling' in twos, inside shopping centres; have no powers of arrest though, in principle can detain someone for up to 30 minutes (no one has ever explained the difference between arrest and detaining, or what they would do if someone refused to be detained); Swan around in marked Police vehicles, but can't do stop checks, require production of driving documents, require name, address, date of birth, require production of driving documents at a Police station. The list goes on. They can, however, according to the government numpties, be the 'eyes and ears' of the Police. They don't have to pass physicals and it's not uncommon to see two uniformed JCBs wandering around 'reassuring' the public. In their support, they are not cops and the media should emphasise that fact, but you can't expect so called journalists or reporters doing a little fact checking before misleading the public (yes, Daily Mail, I'm talking about you).
ReplyDeleteRetire them, or make them redundant, and spend the money on real Police officers is a suggestion which government numpties will take no notice of.
Penseivat
This PCSO is toast. Even though he hasn't got a power of arrest (apart from common law) he should have at least attended the incident and recorded it on his video for use later. He could have assessed the situation and called for help on his radio and be a professional witness. The suspect apparently was a drunken 15 year old girl who knows that people are too scared to hold onto her as feral scum can play the excessive force card successfully.
ReplyDeletePolice forces everywhere and the govt have been trying to convince the public that these half-wits are police officers. Their uniform is near identical and they are allowed to drive police cars. It's all smoke and mirrors. That idiot Blunkett invented them but subsequent governments have increased their numbers but not their powers or training.
Jaded
"PCSOs are as useful as a chocolate fireguard. "
ReplyDeleteThey clearly aren't even as useful as those, they'd at least do something for a few minutes!
"This PCSO is toast. "
I'd really hope so, Jaded. But these days, who knows?