A Police Community Support Officer in London. Photo: Getty Images Source: Getty Images
CIVILIANS could be put on the frontline to walk the beat under a proposal that one of WA's top cops says needs to be looked at.
Documents obtained by The Sunday Times reveal that Deputy Police Commissioner Stephen Brown wants the force to consider introducing Police Community Support Officers, which do not have powers of arrest.
It's just one of the ideas Mr Brown brought back from a study trip to the UK in advance of Frontline 2020, the major reform program to make the force "leaner" and operate "more efficiently" as WA's population swells.
The Sunday Times obtained Mr Brown's comprehensive notes, in the form of emails, from his meetings last year with officials and senior officers across England.
They show British cops raved about the value of PCSOs and told him they were "the face of policing" and "the community love them".
Deputy Police Commissioner Stephen Brown Source: Supplied
In one email, Mr Brown – considered one of the favourites to become the next Police Commissioner – writes "we really need to look at this model of PCSO". The force's head of operations then asks: "Would we convert our auxiliary officers into PCSOs?"
WA Police's auxiliary officers currently only support officers with backroom functions, such as custody and forensics.
The PCSOs in the UK were mocked as "plastic policemen" when introduced more than a decade ago, but there are now more than 15,000 of them. PCSOs wear similar uniforms to police, but are civilian staff with only limited powers, such as issuing fines for minor infringements.
They get less training and pay than regular officers, but their foot patrols on the frontline free up police time and provide a highly visible presence on the streets.
In his notes, Mr Brown says Britons have accepted the need for belt-tightening, but warns that too many West Australians still think the "economy is booming". He also says some in the force won't "be able to cope" with the overhaul needed to take policing into the future.
Other UK initiatives raised by the Deputy Commissioner in his notes include:
● BETTER use of mobile technology, such as body-worn cameras, to keep officers on the street.
● OUTSOURCING some functions such as holding cells and call handling to the private sector.
● RATIONALISING the police estate through station closures and relocations.
He told The Sunday Times: "Community Support Officers have proven successful in other jurisdictions and may prove an additional resource to frontline officers."
But he said WA Police was not "currently" considering introducing this measure as part of Frontline 2020. He pointed to the Kimberley, where the force recently introduced community liaison officers who have limited powers and work with agencies on social issues.
Should WA Police introduce Community Support Officers?
The Deputy Commissioner said this might be rolled out to other areas of policing and that a raft of initiatives were being considered "in an effort to increase the focus on local policing against the challenges of rising demand and a finite pool of resources".
The State Opposition last night said "pretend policemen" should not be used as a cheap alternative to fully trained police officers.
The WA Police Union said putting auxiliary officers on the streets was not appropriate and would be "unpalatable" to the public.
"These officers are not fully trained to work on the frontline and they should not be exposed to the full range of issues police officers deal with on a day-to-day basis," union president George Tilbury said.
Acting Police Minister John Day said the Barnett Government had not had any discussions with WA Police about PCSOs. Mr Day said Frontline 2020 would put more police on the frontline, with the government contributing to this with an extra 550 officers over the next four years.
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