Tom Whitehead
Daily Telegraph
March 9, 2010
Almost 1,700 people, also including car park attendants and dog wardens, already have powers to hand out a string of fines and even take photographs of low level offenders under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme.
But the Government has quietly announced it plans to review the scheme with chief police officers to see how it can be expanded further.
Rank and file officers warned the move is “blurring the lines” of legitimate law enforcement and is creating a “third tier” of policing.
Even chief constables are now cautious over the scheme following it’s rapid growth, which has seen numbers increase by a fifth in just 12 months.
It will further fuel concerns that, with increasing budget pressures, the Government is keen to push for policing on the cheap.Under CSAS, a chief constable can give employees of local authorities or private companies limited powers such as the right to hand out on-the-spot fines for offences including disorder, truancy and littering; stopping vehicles for roadside tests and confiscating alcohol.
They have their own uniform and badge and can demand names and addresses as well as take photographs of offenders.
There are 1,667 so-called "accredited persons" in England and Wales with 109 organisations, including 31 private companies, involved across 26 forces.
A further 478 civilians have been given the power to stop vehicles to check for out-of-date tax discs.
But a section buried in a recent Home Office neighbourhood policing strategy document read: "The Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS) is a powerful way for the police to work with partners and to make the most out of other people whose job is to keep their neighbourhoods safe by giving them a limited range of powers to tackle ASB (anti-social behaviour).
"The Government and ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officer) will review CSAS to see how it can be expanded to more forces and organisations."
The review is to be carried out this summer but Peter Davies, Nottinghamshire assistant chief constable and ACPO lead on CSAS, said: "Accredited persons do play a part in building safe and secure neighbourhoods.
"However, their role must remain distinct from that of police officers whose task is to uphold and enforce the law, tackling all forms of harm to the public and communities."
The move also raises fresh fears over the future of policing, especially with chief officers under pressure to cut costs. There are already more than 16,000 police community support officers and now a growing number of accredited civilians.
Simon Reed, the vice-chairman of the Police Federation, said: "It is just growing out of control. The growth rates are phenomenal.
"It is blurring the lines between police as the legitimate law enforcement organisation and these pseudo agencies springing up.
"It is effectively a third tier of policing. We are having all these police powers devolved to anyone and there does not seem to be any boundaries to law enforcement. Where will it end?"
Dylan Sharpe, campaign director of Big Brother Watch, said: "Those empowered by these schemes don't have anything near the proper training, experience or respect to try and boss around members of the public."
A leaked document last month suggested one in five police officers could lose their job under cost-cutting measures.
Up to 28,000 officers would be replaced by civilian workers — saving hundreds of millions of pounds — under suggestions put to a Workforce Council meeting chaired by Acpo and involving the National Policing Improvement Agency, the Home Office-funded body responsible for finding efficiencies within the service.
The Daily Telegraph also disclosed that forces are losing thousands of officers by freezing recruitment and replacing them with volunteer special constables.
Three quarters of all forces have stopped taking new recruits meaning that up to 3,200 officers could be lost nationwide over the next three years.
David Hanson, the policing minister, said: "Police are cracking down hard on anti-social behaviour, but beating it is not just a job for them. We are determined to give powers to communities to help tackle the crimes that matter most to them and the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme is part of that drive
“It gives limited powers to people already working in community safety, which was backed by two thirds of the public in a nationwide survey. The scheme is yet another tool to tackle anti-social behaviour and can help free police time to tackle serious crime and protect the public.”
