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Police Reform Act 2002 (Standard Powers and Duties of Community Support Officers) Order 2007

My Lords, I am a member of the Thames Valley Police Authority and have been for a large number of years. I have also been a member of the Association of Police Authorities. I have two vital points to raise with the Minister. First, police community support officers are supposed to be outside the police station and visible to the public for most of their time. That is not the case with police constables, sergeants and higher ranks who are burdened with paperwork and sit in their offices, staring at computers, rather than being out on the street. Anything that extends the powers of police community support officers should not mean that they go back in the office so that the public cannot see them because, despite what my noble friend just said, people want to see a police presence and I am not convinced that people easily distinguish a police constable and a police community support officer. I know that all police community support officers have radio contact with forces to back them up should they get into any confrontational position. My second point is a major issue that I trust the Minister will take back to the Home Office: it is the funding of police community support officers. At the moment, they are living on almost year-to-year funding, and it is difficult to recruit and retain people in a job when police authorities are by no means confident that the money to pay them will be forthcoming. These issues may be over and above the one that we are debating, but they are worth raising for the Minister to take back.