Private security staffs, accredited by police, and members of an ‘extended police family’ are part of a Government white paper on police reform.
Security guards in shopping centres; traffic, neighbourhood and street wardens; and park keepers and other authority figures are named as possible ‘extended police family’ members. To be police-accredited they would have to be of suitable character and trained, says the document, Policing A New Century: A Blueprint for Reform (CM 5326): ‘They would then be able to exchange information with local police regularly, have access to communications systems, and be visibly identified as working in co-operation with the police service. Where required, they may be given the powers necessary to deal with anti-social behaviour and disorder, and to detain individuals pending the arrival of the police; this would of course be subject to further training.’ Accredited policing would offer a visible police presence in public spaces and tackle ‘anti-social, thuggish and disorderly behaviour’, the white paper says. ‘Schemes would be introduced at the discretion of the chief officer, and reviewed annually. They would need to fit into the overall policing plan for an area, as well as with local crime and disorder reduction strategies.’ The document adds: ‘Accredited organisations would remain responsible for their employees, but day to day co-ordination of activity and information exchange would be through the local beat manager, and there would be appropriate access to police command and control systems.’ The document quotes West Lancashire community wardens (with citizens’ powers) as a model. Paid by the public sector, Legion Security staff since April have carried out preventative patrols, with police backing including weekly intelligence meetings. When the Ormskirk CCTV system in West Lancashire district went live in 2000, Legion Security staff began 24-hour monitoring from council offices. The document also quotes the Guardsafe scheme at Trafford Park, Manchester, whereby security guards are vetted, and licenced after four days’ training; the scheme’s launch was featured in last month’s Professional Security.
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Who will pay? There is a hint that the private sector – pubs and clubs, say – will have to pick up more of the tab. ‘The police, the Home Office and the private sector are working together to tackle both mobile phone crime and credit card fraud. But these partnerships are ad hoc. And in some areas, city centre entertainment venues can effectively require an expensive police presence out of all proportion to the contribution they pay.’ Later the document says in more detail: ‘Major public events will always pose significant demands on policing. Where these are commercial enterprises, it is reasonable to ask how far it is right to expect the tax-payer generally to meet the costs of the consequential policing requirements of events designed for profit. The principle currently applied is that any policing requirements on private property are paid for by the venture concerned, while the cost of meeting policing needs in public areas outside the venue fall to the police. This is the basis on which the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent meets the cost of the 12 police posts on its premises, on a three year contract at some £570,000 a year.’ The white paper says that accredited schemes ‘could be suitable for commercial sponsorship or maintained as a specialist service within the private security industry, providing a service as required at different private venues [such as shopping centres or stadia] or in support of the police’.
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The white paper says that crime has changed thanks to ‘communication technology and the increasing threat of international and organised crime’. Detection and convction rates have fallen drastically, Home Secretary David Blunkett writes in the foreword. Civilians could get the authority to search and seize evidence, interview suspects and witnesses, execute warrants and to present evidential summaries as expert witnesses. The blueprint explains: ‘Money laundering, fraud, intellectual property theft, and other crimes are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Information technology and communications systems are both the means of crime and its object ‘ and at the same time vital investigative tools in the fight against criminals. Too few officers currently have the necessary skills to deal with the most complex IT based crime.’ Such civilian specialists could become senior police officers without starting at the bottom.
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On support for front-line policing, the white paper says: ‘Other support staff (‘Community Support Officers’) will be empowered to carry out basic patrol functions. They will provide a visible presence in the community with powers sufficient to deal with anti-social behaviour and minor disorder. Staff from outside the police service may also be given limited powers subject to the necessary training and police accreditation.’ The white paper denies this is policing on the cheap, calling it ‘a realistic, hard headed approach to deploying and co-ordinating the people who can work to rid the community of abandoned cars, graffiti, thuggish and anti-social behaviour’.
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The document argues that Labour are building on success, but that crime and the fear of crime are still high. Quoting Home Office research out soon that England and Wales has an active criminal population of around one million, it adds: ‘about 100,000 are persistent offenders, defined as those with more than three convictions. Although representing only 10 per cent of active criminals, they commit about half of all serious crime. Targeting these persistent offenders by the police, probation and other agencies can reduce their levels of offending’.
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The document makes a connection between ‘organised crime involves gangs and networks operating at local, national and international level’ and criminals nurturing neighbourhood disorder. It adds: ‘Crime is a continuum. Minor juvenile offending may connect up with a chain of criminal behaviour. Those engaged in crime form a loosely connected society, linked by inclination, by illicit funding flows, and by the interdependence of criminal life-styles. Some juvenile offenders will, without effective intervention, become the serious criminals of the future. The drug addict who steals will sell the property to someone who in turn will be dealing with more serious criminals, and the local drug pusher will be part of a chain that links him to the international drug trafficker who may also be funding and organising terrorism.’
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The document proposes, along the lines of Crimestoppers a non-emergency contact number for police in England and Wales, possible called Police Direct, to take pressure off 999 call handlers. The white paper notes that 95 per cent of intruder alarms are false alarms. Non-essential 999 phone calls and alarms alike waste valuable police time; a task force, led by Sir David O’Dowd, the retiring HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary, is to look at solutions.
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As for police numbers, the Government aims to regain the previous highest total of 128,290 in March 1993 by April 2002, and reach 130,000 by April 2003. Other reforms include a Standards Unit to identify best practice and drive up performance; and a National Policing Plan setting the year’s priorities.
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You can send comments on the white paper by January 21 to Police Reform and Bill Unit
Room 1076, 50 Queen Anne’s Gate, London SW1H 9AT. E-mail: Ben.Bradley@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk.
