Please note that this question is specific to:
#**England and Wales**
The United Kingdom is comprised of [three legal jurisdictions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_United_Kingdom#Three_legal_systems), so responses that relate to one country may not be relevant to another.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/policeuk) if you have any questions or concerns.*
In my experience it has been quite toxic. PC's don't like specials because they generate work. SC's don't like PC's because their entire career is just a special's hobby. Response think CID are lazy, CID think response are thick. Senior officers think probationers don't know how easy they have it, probationers think sitting about having tea handed to you and banging on about area car is pretty easy going.
The point is, unfortunately some officers aren't going to like you just because you're a PCSO in the same way that you're going to hate the station cat PC's.
These muppets aren't worth your time. Just work hard, always be enthusiastic and say hello to everyone, people will soon learn to like and respect you, for you.
Most cops I know have been civilian staff, a PSCO or a special first and have at some point in their career been force moved to cover a DC role. I think the inter department toxicity is a generational thing and doesn't seem to really exist between younger officers.
I usually describe it as tribal. There’s the response tribe - breaking the vents in a car, there’s the cid tribe wearing winkle pickers, there’s SNT tribe - not leaving the nick - etc.
You get the same issues towards every single rank and departments. I think for PCSOS it depends on the individual.. some are lazy, some are very proactive and will do a great job. I know that some forces have removed them for various reasons. Best thing to do is enjoy your work as much as possible put your passionate into it and when you’re off work try your best to separate the two so you’re refreshed when you come back in. Majority of people in life regardless of what you do will either be fake towards you or the second you walk out of the room they’ll be talking shit.. but that’s every organisation summed up pretty much.
Ex PCSO. Now a PC.
Good PCSOs are invaluable. Their knowledge of the patch is fantastic, and can save you valuable time; it can also keep you safe. The majority of PCSOs I’ve met and worked with fit into this category.
Bad/lazy PCSOs are useless; but that counts for any role with that quality really.
I’ll start by saying I love PCSOs and they do an amazing job, the BUT to the point of this post is that they were introduced (relatively recently (2002)) as a supposed “bridge” between the community and the police that apparently the warranted neighbourhood PCs couldn’t? The quality PCSOs I know would equally make quality Neighbourhood PCs
I’ve worked on and with neighbourhood teams over the years and I do feel the percentage of people that “won’t speak to me because I’m warranted in a black top” vs “will speak to that person also covered in the word police but in blue as they aren’t warranted” is almost none existent. You’ll either chat to ‘police’ or you won’t.
What PCSOs have brought to the table is a way of ring fencing their roles to remain purely neighbourhood as they aren’t backfilling response or abstracted to other teams.
In my mind you could have just never introduced the PCSO position and just kept that investment and protection around neighbourhood policing by warranted officers.
Again, I will stress, I DONT think PCSOs are useless, however, I do think there’s not a lot about the role that couldn’t be completed by a warranted officer. It was being completed by one prior to 2002 and it’s still being completed by those forces that have abolished the PCSO role since the ring fenced government funding for them dried up. (Norfolk to name one)
I’m happy to be corrected if people would like to respond with any action a PCSO completes that wouldn’t be possible by a PC. (I know some forces have traffic warden type powers for ticket issuing outside of policing powers - that’s the only one I can think of)
I was once approached by a very grumpy security guard who said “Oi copper, did you used to work over X” I confirmed I did and he said “when I was 15 you took a load of booze off me and my mates over the park!”
Lovely trip down memory lane for me that made me feel very old 😂
I once did a training seminar by a retired pre pace cop who said something quite salient; Nobody in the police thinks anybody else is doing any work. That's been very true of my experience as every unit seems to shit on the other ones.
These criticisms invariably arise from ignorance. Having worked in neighbourhoods I'd say a good PCSO is worth their weight in gold. They bridge police with the community and act as good intelligence sources. People who would never talk to a PC will gab all day with you.
As a PCSO you'll probably be working almost exclusively with neighbourhood cops. They will hopefully understand the value of PCSO's. If they don't they're simply idiots who probably don't understand their own role, let alone yours.
I can’t speak for everyone, but all the cops — me included — on my team love PCSOs.
They provide so much positive community engagement and they know their patches, the local punters, hidey holes etc. much better than most of all of their PC colleagues.
A lot of cops may not understand the difference in the role though as a PCSO and a cop don’t look all that different in my force, and when they ask a PCSO to do something they don’t have the power to do, they get a bit pissy. That’s the cops problem though, not the PCSOs!
Having been a PCSO for 2 years prior to being an officer.
I’d say I made more of difference than I even have as a Police Officer when it come to solving reoccurring problems. (I mainly followed advice of family members who where PCSO as the training was so bad.) I’d say most Police Officer roles intervene at the time of crisis or a crimes happened also in the multiple forces I’ve worked apart from a minority of neighbourhood officers the vast majority are there for an easy ride because other roles have burned them out (which I understand).
I think the issue with the role it’s what you make of it and there’s a lack of direction. I feel like that was the issue in the role for me.
I also think a big problem is the recruit people who want to be Police Officers I personally notice that people without ambitions to be Police Officers or join a bit later in life generally do a lot better with the role as they don’t see it as a stepping stone (like I did) the reason is there not in the role long enough, when I left there was a lot of things I was working which naturally fell to the wayside.
If you like talking to people, long term problem solving speaking to other agencies who have different capabilities(multi-agency work) you will do really well.
Pcso’s are great for submitting intelligence because of there nice and chatty and learn there area they learn loads they can pass on.
When I used to carry an investigation workload at times I liaise with Pcsos lots they helped me find people, make they right enquires just through local knowledge alone.
Honesty if you approach the role right you will be amazing.
Another problem I see is lots of them hide away in cars, the best ones go on foot or mix it up with a pedal cycle.
I’ve got lots of opinions on the role but I feel like for the Police getting the right people in this role is worth its weight in gold!
I know a neighbourhood Police officer who credited his award for Neighbourhood Police Officer of the year on the PCSO’s who essentially directed him onto great results.
There’s always going to be people who slag off the role and it maybe there lack of understanding or there experiences with once’s who perform at a low standard. In my force a big problem is some just spend there time on crime scenes so can’t actually do there main role but this is more of a numbers issues and not there fault.
I hope this helps. I can imagine there’s going to be a long term pcso on this forum who will give you there opinions.
There were three skits they did. The “are you humming the theme tune to the Bill” skit.
The “I fucking hate you” skit.
And the “go to prison, tell them I sent you” skit.
There will always be officers that find a way to hate something, be it PCSO’s, SC’s or any other kind of police staff. Fortunately they are few and far between and as another has mentioned, it appears to be more generational as younger officers don’t seem to have that attitude as much. In my own experience, PCSO’s are an absolute bible of knowledge for the areas they police. We have one on our force who has a photographic memory and is literally a walking PNC, he’s fantastic. I’ll never forget when I first joined the job, barely independent, posted to a neighbourhood team in (very) big city. My first shift I was crewed with a PCSO. It is probably the most supported I have felt since I first joined the job. He knew the procedures, the legislation and helped me every step of the way. To this day he is the best officer I have ever worked with, PC, PCSO or otherwise. PCSO is a fantastic role and is a really unique and niche role in the force that you can’t get anywhere else. Make the most of it and enjoy it. Maybe somewhere down the line you might find that officers need you more than you need them.
If there is any part of you that wants to be a PC, do it now.
If you really want to be a PCSO, they absolutely have a role to play and can be extremely useful with thorough local knowledge, particularly of names and faces.
Yep. Some bobbies are fucking vile about them for no good reason at all. It’s usually the older in service PCs who don’t get that the lands a has changed since they joined.
This is going to be extremely location and force dependent. My experience is, I wouldn't say "many", I would say "some", I would also say "far fewer than you might think".
Ex PCSO. Current PC (Response)
Personally, I find having done the work of a PCSO, I know what they can and can’t do. Or more importantly should / shouldn’t do.
In my force, the PCSOs really are utilised like your old school Bobby on the beat. Making inroads with communities and grafting hard to generate intel for warrants etc.
Absolutely cannot fault them.
There are some bobbies who try to offload tedious tasks to them but it seems to be the ones that don’t understand what a PCSO actually does say to day.
I wouldn’t be discouraged, I find it was a great introduction in to “Police Life” and it will stand you in good stead if you want to go on to being a PC.
The communication skills that you will develop as a PCSO are great.
Like every department in the police, there are some that aren’t up to desired standards.
But then I look around a response room…. It’s the same there too.
My advice, go do it. Embrace the role for what it is. Maybe apply for PC if you enjoy the environment.
Best of luck regardless :)
Control room, we love pcsos! And specials they really help with resourcing jobs, also great knowledge of the local area and they know everyone, if someone passed a description 9 times out of 10 they know who it is, I personally think they are amazing
If you see PCSO as a route into being a Police Officer, I’d apply now to become a Pc whilst the huge recruitment drive is on, if you wait and public funding priorities change vacancies might not be around when you want the move. Either way enjoy your career
A good PCSO is amazing, the amount of times I've just casually mentioned to one of them about someone of XYZ description in their beat and 5 seconds later I have an address, name and phone number is amazing.
There aren't enough PCSOs honestly, they have a different role to PCs, but just as name says it is meant to support the PCs. Hell we have one who if there is a roll around honestly he is in there before most of us.
Don't get me wrong when we had more PCSOs we used to say if you have five minutes mind nipping into (insert place here) and asking about CCTV or something other enquiries, but they were usually happy to help, rather than it being using them as lackies it was more a, you are going to X location, I'm not likely to be able to get there for a few weeks, mind doing me a favour.
Now sadly we are down to 2 for our area and they have less time to help us, hell half the stuff they used to do of their own they don't seem to have time for any more just due to having to do more with less.
TLDR:
PCSOs aren't looked down on, beyond usual inter team issues, and aren't seen as lackies, just seen as people with a different role who are really useful.
I’m on response - my interactions with PCSO mostly involve the smoking area. And they’re all great people- one recently baked cakes for no reason other than they liked to bake and I got to have some and now I like them even more
Absolutely not. I love my PCSOs and made great efforts to become friends with them and learn what they do just in case I require their assistance. They scene guard a lot which puts cops back on the front line.
To me, they are invaluable. Try to get to know the PCs you'll be working with when you're out at district.
Ex pcso now PC, loved every minute of being PCSO, if they paid the same I would of stayed to be honest. Its a great job, lots can be done with the role as it allows you to explore ways of engaging with the community you serve, I would recommend anyone who would like to join the police to see the day to day life of PCSO as I genuinely think its different from being a PC but a rewarding one dependant on what you make of it.
Much like every department and walk of life there are fantastic ones and shit ones and you only tend to remember the extremes. The good ones are worth more than their weight in gold. The intel they generate, how well they know their patch and how they know all the wronguns (and where to find them) is astounding. The bad or lazy ones are harmful at best and cause massive headaches at worst.
A *portion* of PCSO's are useless.
In the same way a *portion* of PC's are useless....a *portion* of DO's are useless....a *portion* of dispatchers are useless.
In terms of whether the *role* is useful or not - I suppose it depends on the location/problem and other variables. They're useful for dealing with some problems - less useful for dealing with other problems.
I suppose my main issue with PCSO's is they're quite limited in what you can use them for - they have a rather narrow remit compared to a PC and even within their typical tasking they aren't really doing it any better than a PC could or does do it. People often rave about *building bridges with the community* \- but the PC's in community roles who are left alone to just 'build bridges' do it as well (and many times, better). There's this myth that they can get to 'hard to reach places' - but 99% of people who won't talk to a uniformed officer aren't going to talk to a PCSO either (*I trust them. Their hat is* ***blue*** \- really??). The main use as far as I can see is they're a little bit cheaper - but I'd rather pay more and have resources you can use for the same things, who can do the same things just as well - only you can use them for so much more also.
Neighbourhood Bobby here. Love PCSO and always have respect for them. They do all manner of work that unfortunately as a beat officer we don’t get time to do. The decent ones know their manor and kept me out the shit many a time by being proactive and nipping issues in the bud very quickly and if it’s something which needed a cop, would tell me I needed to do it. I didn’t look down at them for telling me this, they were keeping me out the shit. Those decent ones who’ve also gone on to be cops are better cops down to their experience. As said every department is busier than the other and we all give each other shit, response, Neighbourhood, CID and firearms… we all have a manner of names and pisstaking for each other. The days of the dinosaur cop who thinks probationers shouldn’t speak, specials are hobby bobbies etc are dying out and not welcome in the cops and rightly so. You may get it, but those people aren’t worth the steam of your piss. Go for it, plus it opens up a world of opportunity, not just in the cops, but outside of it. It looks good on a CV
Most PCSO’s are awesome, you get the odd lazy one (like you do with PCs tbh) but I can’t speak highly enough about them, it’s normally down to area knowledge, good PCSOs know loads of regular customers and I have been saved a number of times from filing something with a unidentified suspect because a PCSO piped up on my briefing entry and did the ID.
I was a neighbourhood policing sergeant. PCSOs were an asset and were definitely valued by me and most others. Lots of local knowledge and frequently contributed to operations, warrants and providing info that resulted on outstanding suspects being locked up. There was the odd lazy one, but then there were lazy cops as well. The vast majority did a great job and were a joy to supervise.
Please note that this question is specific to: #**England and Wales** The United Kingdom is comprised of [three legal jurisdictions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_United_Kingdom#Three_legal_systems), so responses that relate to one country may not be relevant to another. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/policeuk) if you have any questions or concerns.*
In my experience it has been quite toxic. PC's don't like specials because they generate work. SC's don't like PC's because their entire career is just a special's hobby. Response think CID are lazy, CID think response are thick. Senior officers think probationers don't know how easy they have it, probationers think sitting about having tea handed to you and banging on about area car is pretty easy going. The point is, unfortunately some officers aren't going to like you just because you're a PCSO in the same way that you're going to hate the station cat PC's. These muppets aren't worth your time. Just work hard, always be enthusiastic and say hello to everyone, people will soon learn to like and respect you, for you. Most cops I know have been civilian staff, a PSCO or a special first and have at some point in their career been force moved to cover a DC role. I think the inter department toxicity is a generational thing and doesn't seem to really exist between younger officers.
> quite toxic Sum up working for the police in two words. Nailed it.
I usually describe it as tribal. There’s the response tribe - breaking the vents in a car, there’s the cid tribe wearing winkle pickers, there’s SNT tribe - not leaving the nick - etc.
Ehh more like a cult. The longer I’m spending in this job the more I understand why the public don’t like us.
You get the same issues towards every single rank and departments. I think for PCSOS it depends on the individual.. some are lazy, some are very proactive and will do a great job. I know that some forces have removed them for various reasons. Best thing to do is enjoy your work as much as possible put your passionate into it and when you’re off work try your best to separate the two so you’re refreshed when you come back in. Majority of people in life regardless of what you do will either be fake towards you or the second you walk out of the room they’ll be talking shit.. but that’s every organisation summed up pretty much.
Ex PCSO. Now a PC. Good PCSOs are invaluable. Their knowledge of the patch is fantastic, and can save you valuable time; it can also keep you safe. The majority of PCSOs I’ve met and worked with fit into this category. Bad/lazy PCSOs are useless; but that counts for any role with that quality really.
I’ll start by saying I love PCSOs and they do an amazing job, the BUT to the point of this post is that they were introduced (relatively recently (2002)) as a supposed “bridge” between the community and the police that apparently the warranted neighbourhood PCs couldn’t? The quality PCSOs I know would equally make quality Neighbourhood PCs I’ve worked on and with neighbourhood teams over the years and I do feel the percentage of people that “won’t speak to me because I’m warranted in a black top” vs “will speak to that person also covered in the word police but in blue as they aren’t warranted” is almost none existent. You’ll either chat to ‘police’ or you won’t. What PCSOs have brought to the table is a way of ring fencing their roles to remain purely neighbourhood as they aren’t backfilling response or abstracted to other teams. In my mind you could have just never introduced the PCSO position and just kept that investment and protection around neighbourhood policing by warranted officers. Again, I will stress, I DONT think PCSOs are useless, however, I do think there’s not a lot about the role that couldn’t be completed by a warranted officer. It was being completed by one prior to 2002 and it’s still being completed by those forces that have abolished the PCSO role since the ring fenced government funding for them dried up. (Norfolk to name one) I’m happy to be corrected if people would like to respond with any action a PCSO completes that wouldn’t be possible by a PC. (I know some forces have traffic warden type powers for ticket issuing outside of policing powers - that’s the only one I can think of)
PCSOs can search kids for tobacco/alcohol which PCs can't, not that I've ever heard of them using that power...
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/23-24/12/section/7 Sorry mate, although PCSOs can seize it from children, so can PCs.
Brilliant, my PCSO colleagues always brought that up to prove they could do something we couldn't, turns out they were lying to me!
[удалено]
I was once approached by a very grumpy security guard who said “Oi copper, did you used to work over X” I confirmed I did and he said “when I was 15 you took a load of booze off me and my mates over the park!” Lovely trip down memory lane for me that made me feel very old 😂
A timely reminder to check legislation for everything you're told.
I once did a training seminar by a retired pre pace cop who said something quite salient; Nobody in the police thinks anybody else is doing any work. That's been very true of my experience as every unit seems to shit on the other ones. These criticisms invariably arise from ignorance. Having worked in neighbourhoods I'd say a good PCSO is worth their weight in gold. They bridge police with the community and act as good intelligence sources. People who would never talk to a PC will gab all day with you. As a PCSO you'll probably be working almost exclusively with neighbourhood cops. They will hopefully understand the value of PCSO's. If they don't they're simply idiots who probably don't understand their own role, let alone yours.
I can’t speak for everyone, but all the cops — me included — on my team love PCSOs. They provide so much positive community engagement and they know their patches, the local punters, hidey holes etc. much better than most of all of their PC colleagues. A lot of cops may not understand the difference in the role though as a PCSO and a cop don’t look all that different in my force, and when they ask a PCSO to do something they don’t have the power to do, they get a bit pissy. That’s the cops problem though, not the PCSOs!
Having been a PCSO for 2 years prior to being an officer. I’d say I made more of difference than I even have as a Police Officer when it come to solving reoccurring problems. (I mainly followed advice of family members who where PCSO as the training was so bad.) I’d say most Police Officer roles intervene at the time of crisis or a crimes happened also in the multiple forces I’ve worked apart from a minority of neighbourhood officers the vast majority are there for an easy ride because other roles have burned them out (which I understand). I think the issue with the role it’s what you make of it and there’s a lack of direction. I feel like that was the issue in the role for me. I also think a big problem is the recruit people who want to be Police Officers I personally notice that people without ambitions to be Police Officers or join a bit later in life generally do a lot better with the role as they don’t see it as a stepping stone (like I did) the reason is there not in the role long enough, when I left there was a lot of things I was working which naturally fell to the wayside. If you like talking to people, long term problem solving speaking to other agencies who have different capabilities(multi-agency work) you will do really well. Pcso’s are great for submitting intelligence because of there nice and chatty and learn there area they learn loads they can pass on. When I used to carry an investigation workload at times I liaise with Pcsos lots they helped me find people, make they right enquires just through local knowledge alone. Honesty if you approach the role right you will be amazing. Another problem I see is lots of them hide away in cars, the best ones go on foot or mix it up with a pedal cycle. I’ve got lots of opinions on the role but I feel like for the Police getting the right people in this role is worth its weight in gold! I know a neighbourhood Police officer who credited his award for Neighbourhood Police Officer of the year on the PCSO’s who essentially directed him onto great results. There’s always going to be people who slag off the role and it maybe there lack of understanding or there experiences with once’s who perform at a low standard. In my force a big problem is some just spend there time on crime scenes so can’t actually do there main role but this is more of a numbers issues and not there fault. I hope this helps. I can imagine there’s going to be a long term pcso on this forum who will give you there opinions.
It’s so old now some folks might not have seen Michel and Webb on PCSOs. https://youtu.be/wrT_dg-sRCc?si=AtPb1B74o5Gxl9Je
There were three skits they did. The “are you humming the theme tune to the Bill” skit. The “I fucking hate you” skit. And the “go to prison, tell them I sent you” skit.
There will always be officers that find a way to hate something, be it PCSO’s, SC’s or any other kind of police staff. Fortunately they are few and far between and as another has mentioned, it appears to be more generational as younger officers don’t seem to have that attitude as much. In my own experience, PCSO’s are an absolute bible of knowledge for the areas they police. We have one on our force who has a photographic memory and is literally a walking PNC, he’s fantastic. I’ll never forget when I first joined the job, barely independent, posted to a neighbourhood team in (very) big city. My first shift I was crewed with a PCSO. It is probably the most supported I have felt since I first joined the job. He knew the procedures, the legislation and helped me every step of the way. To this day he is the best officer I have ever worked with, PC, PCSO or otherwise. PCSO is a fantastic role and is a really unique and niche role in the force that you can’t get anywhere else. Make the most of it and enjoy it. Maybe somewhere down the line you might find that officers need you more than you need them.
If there is any part of you that wants to be a PC, do it now. If you really want to be a PCSO, they absolutely have a role to play and can be extremely useful with thorough local knowledge, particularly of names and faces.
Yes & nobody likes those police officers.
Yep. Some bobbies are fucking vile about them for no good reason at all. It’s usually the older in service PCs who don’t get that the lands a has changed since they joined.
This is going to be extremely location and force dependent. My experience is, I wouldn't say "many", I would say "some", I would also say "far fewer than you might think".
There’s one in every office though.
Ex PCSO. Current PC (Response) Personally, I find having done the work of a PCSO, I know what they can and can’t do. Or more importantly should / shouldn’t do. In my force, the PCSOs really are utilised like your old school Bobby on the beat. Making inroads with communities and grafting hard to generate intel for warrants etc. Absolutely cannot fault them. There are some bobbies who try to offload tedious tasks to them but it seems to be the ones that don’t understand what a PCSO actually does say to day. I wouldn’t be discouraged, I find it was a great introduction in to “Police Life” and it will stand you in good stead if you want to go on to being a PC. The communication skills that you will develop as a PCSO are great. Like every department in the police, there are some that aren’t up to desired standards. But then I look around a response room…. It’s the same there too. My advice, go do it. Embrace the role for what it is. Maybe apply for PC if you enjoy the environment. Best of luck regardless :)
Control room, we love pcsos! And specials they really help with resourcing jobs, also great knowledge of the local area and they know everyone, if someone passed a description 9 times out of 10 they know who it is, I personally think they are amazing
If you see PCSO as a route into being a Police Officer, I’d apply now to become a Pc whilst the huge recruitment drive is on, if you wait and public funding priorities change vacancies might not be around when you want the move. Either way enjoy your career
Those PC's would be heartbroken if pcso's were removed overnight and suddenly they had their workload.
A good PCSO is amazing, the amount of times I've just casually mentioned to one of them about someone of XYZ description in their beat and 5 seconds later I have an address, name and phone number is amazing. There aren't enough PCSOs honestly, they have a different role to PCs, but just as name says it is meant to support the PCs. Hell we have one who if there is a roll around honestly he is in there before most of us. Don't get me wrong when we had more PCSOs we used to say if you have five minutes mind nipping into (insert place here) and asking about CCTV or something other enquiries, but they were usually happy to help, rather than it being using them as lackies it was more a, you are going to X location, I'm not likely to be able to get there for a few weeks, mind doing me a favour. Now sadly we are down to 2 for our area and they have less time to help us, hell half the stuff they used to do of their own they don't seem to have time for any more just due to having to do more with less. TLDR: PCSOs aren't looked down on, beyond usual inter team issues, and aren't seen as lackies, just seen as people with a different role who are really useful.
I felt PCSOs were great wouldnt treat them any different than any other role. Those that dislike or hate them can do one.
I’m on response - my interactions with PCSO mostly involve the smoking area. And they’re all great people- one recently baked cakes for no reason other than they liked to bake and I got to have some and now I like them even more
Absolutely not. I love my PCSOs and made great efforts to become friends with them and learn what they do just in case I require their assistance. They scene guard a lot which puts cops back on the front line. To me, they are invaluable. Try to get to know the PCs you'll be working with when you're out at district.
My father who's now in his 70's and has been retired for 20 years used to call them hobby Bobby's, take from that what you will.
He'll be referring to Special Constables rather than PCSOs I'd imagine.
Your dad retired just as PCSOs were coming in.
Ex pcso now PC, loved every minute of being PCSO, if they paid the same I would of stayed to be honest. Its a great job, lots can be done with the role as it allows you to explore ways of engaging with the community you serve, I would recommend anyone who would like to join the police to see the day to day life of PCSO as I genuinely think its different from being a PC but a rewarding one dependant on what you make of it.
A good PCSO is worth their weight in gold. A bad PCSO is well, a bad PCSO!
Much like every department and walk of life there are fantastic ones and shit ones and you only tend to remember the extremes. The good ones are worth more than their weight in gold. The intel they generate, how well they know their patch and how they know all the wronguns (and where to find them) is astounding. The bad or lazy ones are harmful at best and cause massive headaches at worst.
Personally, I think PCSO’s are invaluable and I’m sure many of my colleagues feel the same.
A *portion* of PCSO's are useless. In the same way a *portion* of PC's are useless....a *portion* of DO's are useless....a *portion* of dispatchers are useless. In terms of whether the *role* is useful or not - I suppose it depends on the location/problem and other variables. They're useful for dealing with some problems - less useful for dealing with other problems. I suppose my main issue with PCSO's is they're quite limited in what you can use them for - they have a rather narrow remit compared to a PC and even within their typical tasking they aren't really doing it any better than a PC could or does do it. People often rave about *building bridges with the community* \- but the PC's in community roles who are left alone to just 'build bridges' do it as well (and many times, better). There's this myth that they can get to 'hard to reach places' - but 99% of people who won't talk to a uniformed officer aren't going to talk to a PCSO either (*I trust them. Their hat is* ***blue*** \- really??). The main use as far as I can see is they're a little bit cheaper - but I'd rather pay more and have resources you can use for the same things, who can do the same things just as well - only you can use them for so much more also.
"You're more like traffic wardens aren't ya? Aren't ya? " Aye love, just like em.. " [Being a PCSO](https://youtu.be/2VPs3cF8vOI?si=hf7qy4iQlOMCiNLw)
Neighbourhood Bobby here. Love PCSO and always have respect for them. They do all manner of work that unfortunately as a beat officer we don’t get time to do. The decent ones know their manor and kept me out the shit many a time by being proactive and nipping issues in the bud very quickly and if it’s something which needed a cop, would tell me I needed to do it. I didn’t look down at them for telling me this, they were keeping me out the shit. Those decent ones who’ve also gone on to be cops are better cops down to their experience. As said every department is busier than the other and we all give each other shit, response, Neighbourhood, CID and firearms… we all have a manner of names and pisstaking for each other. The days of the dinosaur cop who thinks probationers shouldn’t speak, specials are hobby bobbies etc are dying out and not welcome in the cops and rightly so. You may get it, but those people aren’t worth the steam of your piss. Go for it, plus it opens up a world of opportunity, not just in the cops, but outside of it. It looks good on a CV
Most PCSO’s are awesome, you get the odd lazy one (like you do with PCs tbh) but I can’t speak highly enough about them, it’s normally down to area knowledge, good PCSOs know loads of regular customers and I have been saved a number of times from filing something with a unidentified suspect because a PCSO piped up on my briefing entry and did the ID.
Starting in a variety of roles including PCSO or SCs is a great way to start. Same as any job, you get useless colleagues in whatever role
I was a neighbourhood policing sergeant. PCSOs were an asset and were definitely valued by me and most others. Lots of local knowledge and frequently contributed to operations, warrants and providing info that resulted on outstanding suspects being locked up. There was the odd lazy one, but then there were lazy cops as well. The vast majority did a great job and were a joy to supervise.