PCSOs face rise in displinary action

Friday, 9 October 2009 12:00 AM

By politics.co.uk staff

Police community support officers (PCSOs) are twice as likely to face disciplinary action than police officers an investigation has found.

Freedom of Information requests by More 4 News have revealed that 2.41 per cent of PCSOs faced disciplinary action last year - double that of regular officers.

However, in one force the results were significantly higher - Devon and Cornwall police took disciplinary measures against over 16 per cent of their PCSOs in the last year.

Over a third of PCSOs in Devon and Cornwall have been involved in disciplinary proceedings since 2004.

Other forces which had a high rate of disciplinary action included City of London (at over eight per cent) and the British Transport Police (at over 5.5 per cent).

The investigation also found that the overall figure of 359 disciplinary cases against PCSOs in England and Wales last year was a rise of 170 per cent on the year before.

And of the 359 disciplinary cases, almost a third were for discreditable conduct or failure/neglect of duty.

The chairman of the Metropolitan police federation, Peter Smyth told More 4 News: "I think the whole role needs to be evaluated."

Critics have blamed the high rate of disciplinary action on the fact that PCSOs are being called on to deal with situations that fully trained police officers would normally be expected to deal with.

Since 2004 community support officers have cost the taxpayer over a billion pounds.

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