Some excellent work from the Daily Telegraph this morning reveals that the Government is planning on handing out police powers to several more members of the public under a major expansion of its 'Community Safety Accreditation Scheme' (CSAS).
As the Telegraph reports:
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.
The Government has quietly announced it plans to review the scheme with chief police officers to see how it can be expanded further.
A section buried in a recent Home Office neighbourhood policing strategy document read: "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."
There are already 1,667 so-called "accredited persons" in England and Wales and a further 478 civilians have been given the power to stop vehicles to check for out-of-date tax discs. The vice-chair of the Police Federation has said that the scheme is growing "out of control" and it is deeply unpopular with rank and file police officers.
The fact is that councils are trying to plug a gap created by their wasteful spending and the excessive law-making of our present government. Town Halls are sending out civilians in police clothing to find people to fine for the litany of pathetic non-crimes we are now subject to.
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.
By Dylan Sharpe
"deeply unpopular with rank and file police officers." What about deeply unpopular with the public or just "deeply unpopular"? Does anyone know exactly what powers these accredited person have: must I let them into my home; must I give my name and address if asked in the street; can they arrest me; can they use force to arrest me? The uncertainty just makes the use of accredited persons all the more objectionable.
Posted by: LeChiffre | 08/03/2010 at 05:43 PM