Local PCSO

As Monday nights are notoriously quiet, I planned use the early part of the day to go around my local shops and have a bit of banter with the shopkeepers to see what intel I could pull in to pass the time.

Well 2 minutes after I booked on, a call came in for a burglary ongoing, as the eerie silence came over the air of no units responding, I decided that I would head down that way and see if I could give further info until a unit became available.
When I got down there, the local drunk had locked himself out and was half inside of his window, with his legs dangling out.
Just as I got close to the house he went crashing in, pulled his blinds down and gave me the thumbs up - good stuff.

I then contiued my patrol until a call came in for a underage drinkers in the local park.
I arrived to be met by the usual comments, and obnoxious behaviour which is ever present in todays youth.
They even had the cheek to say that the coke bottle they had, only contained coca cola.

The following may not be verbatim but to the best of my knowledge it is how the conversation went.

PCSO: Pour your drink out for me

GIRL: What for?, its only coca cola!

PCSO: I tell you what, I have an alcohol testing kit in my pocket which will detect any traces of alcohol in that bottle. They cost the force £50.00 each and as a result it has taken me two years to be issued with one.
If it turns out that you have lied to me and the I have wasted my one and only kit on you, I am going to call a PC down and report you for being drunk and disorderly (any PC'S reading this, don't worry I wasn't really going to waste your time).

At this point the girl poured her drink out without saying another word.

law - 1, local youths - 0

My next job was a purse thief who had ran in my direction.
At a bus stop I spotted a male matching his description sat with another male.
As I approached I heard them talking to each other, word along the lines of 'he's not even a proper copper....he can't even search us'

Yet again to the best of my memory,

PCSO: Yes thats right I can't search you, what else can I or can't I do?

YOUTH: I don't know but I know you can't search me

PCSO: Whats in your pockets?

The youth then turns his pockets out to reveal that he has nothing in his pockets

PCSO: Pat yourself down

PCSO to second youth: See I can't search him, I just hope he is daft enough to do it himself

A patrol then pulled up and searched the youths but unfortunately it wasn't them.
Still, score one for having an IQ of more than 10

The rest of my patrol was spent making sure that I covered every street on my patch at least once, and tying my shoe lace on the walls of the people who complain that they never see the Police.

Before I sign off, I was also able to direct patrols to a fight which was occuring in a back lane in the middle of town.
The incident was created on the wrong location, but due to local knowledge I was able to advise control of the error.
In total today I have had 4 cops thank me for my work, 7 members of the public and 2 youth who claim I am too canny to be a copper.
Its a shame that these people don't write into the papers, as I am sure that every PCSO receives praise, but good news doesn't sell trashy newspapers.

LOCAL PCSO

I have always wondered why there isn't much crime on a Sunday night.
Not as much as I wonder why I am wandering around on my own with in the pitch, but we all have a job to do.
I think the most proactive thing I managed today was eight hours of high visibility foot patrol. Part of which got me some very interesting information regarding a drugs dealer on my patch.
The guy who gave me the info is well known but apparantly respects the fact that I walk the back lanes alone with no ppe - if thats what it takes then so be it.

Sorry I haven't got anything more exciting to say, but I would rather keep this truthful instead of trying to glamorise anything that I do.

Local PCSO

Today started as a routine day for me.
Checking the force system for any jobs that are of relevance to my role, checking my emails, and attending the shift briefing.

Another day on solo patrol for me, not sure where the media stories of 3 man pcso patrols come from....I could do with that support at times.
The day went by at a steady speed but with very little happening.
I decided to take the time to carry out some key point policing and be seen around the local shopping centres, transport links and schools.

It was during this patrol that I popped into the local borders store and was advised that a local youth had been in and stolen some sweets.
I viewed the cctv footage and positively identified the offender, seized the cctv tape and made a written note of the witness details. I then contacted the control room in order to create an incident for which a Police Officer would need to attend to obtain crime details.

Once the job was assigned to an officer, I contacted the officer via the force radio and arranged to meet up with them beforehand back at the 'nick'.
I then proceeded to review the cctv tape in his presence to confirm the identity of the offender. I was then able to begin looking for the offender whilst out and about, whilst the PC took statements.
Whilst near the offenders home address I seen him walking into another of the local shops.
One radio call later and a Police Officer arrived to arrest him for shoplifting.

It doesn't end their......As I was about to enter the patrol car to help escort the offender to the cells, a friend of his came staggering up the street and narrowly missed falling into the flow of traffic.
When we stopped her to check on her welfare, we were quite suprised when some of the stolen sweets fell from her pockets, an arrest for handling stolen goods.

Whilst transporting the friend to the cells it became apparent that she had taken heroin and valium. As a result of this she could not open her eyes or lift her head.
She was subsequently de-arrested and escorted to the local hospital and passed into there care.

Once we had returned to our local area I resumed solo foot patrol and my PC colleague returned to borders to obtain his statement.
Within minutes a call came in for youths causing trouble outside of a local off licence, and that the shopkeeper would like them moved on.
Being a non confrontational pcso this type of job is what we deal with everyday, antisocial behaviour.

Upon arrival at the shop it became apparent that the Asian shopkeeper had been assaulted by 2 males who had then trashed part of his shop.
As bad as it sounds, yet again a PCSO had to radio for a PC to attend.
I reviewed the cctv and identified the offenders before obtaining there direction of travel.

As two Patrol cars pulled up, I directed one in the direction that the offenders had headed, and joined the pc in the second car to head towards the offenders home address.
As we turned into a side street we saw a group of youths, one of which was a male with no top on and blood on his knuckles....Result.
We both jumped out of the car and grabbed him, my colleague handcuffed him and passed him to me to get him into the back of the car.
As my colleague chased the remaining offender he was able to direct the second patrol to his position and safely apprehend the offender.

Job done, and another escort detail in the patrol car.
Then it was back on high visibility patrol for an hour before the end of my shift.

Local PCSO

I guess I should start this blog off by stating that the thoughts and comments listed in this blog are not representative of any UK Police force as a whole, and are my thoughts, comments and experiences.

I have decided to put them down in black and white so that everyone can see what your average Police Community Support Officer gets up to on a day to day basis.
Recently we have been subject to quite a lot of criticism, which in my opinion is unjustified. The comments made by the Daily hate mail etc are not based upon fact and I doubt they have taken the time to speak to an actual PCSO.

This blog is for the rest of us, the ones who aren't guided by tabloid trash, and who like to form there own opinions as a result of the facts they have been presented with.

Rant over, I hope you enjoy the blog and please forward any comments (good or bad)

Local PCSO