A “ludicrous” postcode lottery in PCSO powers is leading to some local communities having a two tier policing service—depending what side of the street they live on.
David Sudworth, Conservative candidate for Derby Ward, has discovered there is a large difference in the use of discretionary powers being used by Lancashire PCSOs - just 5% - compared with their counterparts in Greater Manchester—who use 67% of discretionary powers available to them.
To demonstrate the bizarre situation, David teamed up with local County Cllr Carolyn Evans, to visit Sefton Avenue in Tontine, Up Holland. One side of the street is in West Lancashire, where PCSOs use just one of the discretionary powers available to them, whilst the other side comes under Wigan where PCSOs have 14 discretionary powers.
Among the discretionary powers which are available to PCSOs in the Greater Manchester
Police area but not in Lancashire are as follows:
• Power to issue penalty notices in respect of offences of disorder
• Power to issue fixed penalty notices for truancy
• Power to issue fixed penalty notices for graffiti and fly-posting
• Power to detain
• Power to disperse groups and remove persons under 16 to their place of residence
• Power to seize drugs and require name and address for possession of drugs
David is leading a campaign for more powers for PCSOs in Lancashire after submitting a Freedom of Information Act request which revealed that despite having a raft of discretionary powers at his disposal, Lancashire’s Chief Constable has only issued one to his frontline PCSOs. 95% of discretionary powers aren’t used.
David said: “To be able to stand on one side of a street and there be one set of powers available to a PCSO and then cross the road and it be totally different shows just how ludicrous this situation is. PCSOs are a visible presence but for that to mean anything, the need the powers to back that up, otherwise they won’t get the respect needed. The average family in West Lancs pays slightly more in Council Tax to the police compared to those in Greater Manchester, so why can’t we at least have the same level of powers for our PCSOs?
The Chief Constable should undertake an immediate review and give our PCSOs extra powers to help them make our communities as safe as possible.”