Police community support officer

The police staff role (as opposed to holding any official office e.g. Police Constable) of Police Community Support Officer constitutes a fundamental component of the national strategy for community policing across UK, and PCSOs are highly-valued public-facing members of the service. Wearing a distinct uniform from that of their regular PC colleagues, PCSOs are typically issued with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including a stab vest, high visibility jacket and police radio. PCSOs are community-based. Their primary function is to be the visible and uniformed presence of the service in the community, fostering and promoting relationships (especially community cohesion and the principles underpinning diversity and inclusivity) across communities. They will be expected to support communities to address issues, problems and concerns which may or may not necessarily be crime- or incident-related (e.g. a badly lit pathway in a housing estate making elderly residents feel vulnerable, or youths gathering in residential areas at night etc.). Whilst working under the overall direction of their line managers and PC colleagues, PCSOs are expected to act independently and autonomously when in the community; they are bestowed with PCSO-specific powers to enable them to perform their duties. Chief Officers can designate other additional powers according to individual force needs. (These additional powers do not form part of this apprenticeship, but are likely to represent an option for Continuous Professional Development (CPD) after the apprentice has been confirmed in post.) There to support and communicate with individuals, groups and organisations across the community, a PCSO will typically operate alone in distinct physical community areas, regularly attend community and neighbourhood meetings, undertake liaison with schools and general intra-community partnership working. PCSOs will be expected to gather information and intelligence from the community, the relevance of which to ongoing and future policing investigations and/or priorities will be determined by their policing colleagues. They will also be expected to provide a means of two-way communication between the community and the service. As a member of the service actively engaged in the community, PCSOs may on occasions find themselves first at the scene of policing incidents (either by chance, or called upon). They would be expected to (within the range of their powers) take control of these incidents and contain them until relieved by a PC colleague. They may, on occasion, need to utilise conflict management techniques (not ‘hands on’ physical tactics) e.g. appropriate communication (to try and de-escalate a situation), providing any necessary first aid, keeping the public at a safe distance from an ongoing incident, or observing and reporting from a safe distance (dependent on dynamic risk assessment). Although their role is very distinct from that of their PC colleagues, a PCSO may also occasionally be called upon to assist in relation to policing incidents, but this will always be relative to the powers with which they are designated, and align to the underpinning training they have received e.g. house-to-house enquiries, community reassurance patrols (following incidents) and scene management (cordons).