PCSOs vs. Specials. Bit of an irony really as the salaried Officers are the PCSOs, while the Special Constables have the same powers as regular Bobbies but only do the job part time.
The thing to remember about PCSOs is the reason they were introduced in the first place was to deal with low level public nuisance type offences such as anti social behaviour and as such they are not intended to be placed in confrontational situations, hence the reason they do not have cuffs, baton or CS spray.
Their purpose is also intelligence gathering. In one Division in Greater Manchester, PCSOs have been responsible for 50% of the intelligence that has resulted in targetted arrests.
As for joining the Force, a consequence of Political Correctness has been that the Police are looking more and more at engaging the population as a whole in the areas they operate. It's important that you can display your tendancies to be empathic with members of minority groups such as ethnic minorities or those from the "Gay Community" or those who are disabled. You need to think how many times you may have come in contact with those poeple and how you dealt with them. Then think how you might deal with them in a stressful situation; for instance if you have to question a black youth in the street about an incident, or you Stop/Account him, you may notice he doesn't look you in the eye. This isn't necessarily a case of him being a bit shifty (it may be) but generally it is a cultural quirk whereby as a group, those of Caribbean descent tend to look away from the eyes of people they don't know.
If you have to deal with a Muslim in the early evening and he seems distant, moody and perhaps even a little unsteady on his feet; have you checked to see if it's Ramadan at the time, in which case he may have low blood sugar due to not having eaten for 12 hours.
In the past, people have been taken for being Drunk and Incapable and banged up in the cells overnight, only for the cell to be opened in the morning and it turns out he died overnight. Not because he was pi**ed, but because he had collapsed in the street as a result of Hypogleacemia because he was Diabetic.
In short, you are dealing with all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds. Don't just give answers in the general sense, but personalise them and make them into things you've actually done. For instance, don't just say "If an Asian bloke looks unsteady on his feet he isn't on drugs, he's just fasting." Try instead: "I used to work with a Muslim guy and I noticed he looked unsteady on his feet sometimes. I asked him if he was alright and he told me he was actually fasting and that sometimes it made him light headed. Because of this, I took some of his duties from him for a short while which made it less likely he would have an accident. " Obviously put your own slant on it.
There is a great emphasis on Community Policing. It's important to say how you are a good listener because people will tell you things of interest. It's just that sometimes they can take a while to get round to it. An elderly person may want to put the kettle on and tell you all about his or her grandchildren or nephews and nieces. Don't be too keen to run off to attend the nearest Pub fight. Be patient because sooner or later they may tell you about the people across the road who get visitors at strange hours of the night and who often have TVs delivered at 3am. And that Mr. Jones at number 43 who seems to use a sunbed at 2 in the morning. Mmm, is it a case that he doesn't sleep well and likes to top up his tan at odd hours? Or is there a Canabis farm over the road. 2 ears and 1 mouth. Use them in equal proportion.
Effective communication can involve listening, as above, but it also includes note taking, statements and verbal questioning.
Your PNB (Pocket Note Book) is to be used as an Aide Memoire, but it is also Evidentiary. Although you will receive training, your ability to write accurately, neatly and concisely is important, which is why most Forces don't like applicants to fill application forms in on-line or on a computer. They like to see what your writing and spelling is like. If you put down in your PNB that there is a Canabis farm at No. 43 London Road; but you accidentally write down No. 43 Blunden Road, you aren't going to be very popular when 200 hours of Police surveillance comes to naught, while at 43 London Road there are shots fired and 2 people wounded by machettes.
If you ask the wrong kind of questions you could put people at risk. For instance if you go to a house and say that Mrs. Brown says there have been some unusual goings-on at 23 Acacia Avenue, what do you know about it?How do you know the person you are talking to isn't an associate of someone
there?
Resilience isn't just about remaining calm and responding logically and decisively, it's about plodding round in the rain, possibly for several hours at a time. It's about being on the perimeter of a serious crime for hours in the cold. It's about going on to that dodgy estate and hearing the Laurel and Hardy theme whistled away behind your back. It's about having the locals telling you "Your lot are bloody useless. These kids have been stealing cars round here for months and you've done nothing." When you know full well there are "Obs" in place and that the investigation will probably take months. What you really want to do is tell them they're wrong and it won't be long before the "Scroats" (Sorry, can't call them that anymore) are all banged up. It's about the disappointment you will feel when all your information and the actions of your colleagues end up in the CPS NFA (No Further Action) tray.
Problem Solving. There is a thing called the PAT, or Problem Analysis Triangle, where there are 3 factors that make up a problem and changing one of them will make the problem go away. For instance, a shop keeps having items stolen from a display at the front of the shop. The three angle are, the thief, the product, and the location. You can't post a Copper outside the door all the time. You can't stop the shop selling razor blades, but you could locate the products further inside the shop or put them in a locked display cabinet. In other words, look at problems by trying to find out the reasons something happens and then find the most appropriate way of dealing with it. It's also worth speaking to other Cops or PCSOs from different areas and find out if they've had a similar problem and how they dealt with it.
When it comes to team working, you have to fit in with others until you find our how they do things, then you can either decide that's a good way of dealing with things, or find an alternative that works better. Get involved, but bear in mind there may be practices that are out of date now, but may still be practiced in the Division you get posted to. A Sikh PC has just won damages today against GMP after he won a case whereby he said he was told to remove his Turban for Public Order Training. I find this a little bizarre, as this is effectively riot control. If he wants to go into a riot, or be the first through the door on a drugs raid, he's going to have to wear a helmet, and you can't wear a helmet on top of a Turban. Although it's possible the Force could have handled the situation better, I can't help thinking he didn't really want to join the team.
You need to be able to listen effectively, talk clearly and write accurately and concisely.
You have to be aware of the Community you serve and all the different people in it, be they residents of Sandbanks or a group of lads from the East End of London down for a stag do or the Imam of a local Mosque who's having problems with racist grafitti. They all think that whatever has hapenned to them is the worst thing since the Holocaust and you have to take their concerns seriously.
Do it yourself; don't wait for someone else to do it, although at the same time bear in mind that No Man is an Island. There may be something else going of that you don't know about, so use the Intelligence Briefing Sites well.
If you're working in some crappy estate full of people you wouldn't want coming to a party at your house, just remember that at the end of your shift you will be going home to a much nicer place. Resilience takes many forms. You will only know how strong you really are after you've been with the Family Liasion Officer to tell someone their son or daughter has been killed in an car crash.
When you are trying to solve problems, draw on the experience of others in your team and also try to think logically. Banging someone up may only solve the problem in the short term.
You need to be aware of ethnic and other minorities, although having only been to Dorset once, I can't see there being a great problem with cultural and race issues in that county, unlike a major connurbation.
You are part of a team, make sure you take part and that your colleagues will be able to rely on you if push comes to shove. Also remember that as a Special, you may well be doing Point Duty or issuing tickets for unnecessary obstruction on a Bank Holiday while your colleagues are sitting in the van watching the girls in short skirts go past, and then hurtling off under blue lights to deal with an armed robbery.
Sorry for the ramble, but I think it's quite important that you get yourseld into a certain mindset and remember that you won't be Kier of The Yard in the first 6 months.
