I've suggested our local force sends the plastic plods out with digital cameras and a few instant fine pads.
Take a pic of the car & hand the driver an instant £30 fine, number of cars I see, that's got to be one huge moneyspinner.
Never know, might also catch a few tax & insurance dodgers as well.
By Plastic Plods, I presume you mean PCSOs. In GMPland there are PCSOs and Traffic PCSOs. It is not within the remit of PCSOs to issue any motoring related tickets. The Traffic variety however, can. They can issue Non-Endorsables for Unnecessary Obstruction and Endorsable FPNs for certain offences such as stopping on zig-zag lines at Pedestrian Crossings and parking on Double White Lines. Unfortunately they can't deal with Moving Traffic Offences or offences under VLR (Vehicle Lighting Regulations) which having blue lights or inoperative lights would come under. They can also use mobile speed cameras although they have to deal with speeding via Summons as they can't issue (E)FPNs for that.
It's been argued for several years that they should be able to deal with Bus Lane offences as well, but resistance to this (and others) has come from within the relevant Traffic Departments. Basically they don't want their domains encroached upon. The Motorway Sections argued against the introduction of HA Traffic Officers as well. The thinking behind the intoduction of those people was to free up the Cops from having to babysit people on the hard shoulder, run rolling road blocks and help get stranded cars off the Motorway.
Under the legal description of the role of Police Traffic Wardens (as was) there was a codicil at the end which read: ".....plus any other role the Chief Constable sees fit." PCSOs were funded by the Home Office directly and could only do what the Government said they could do. In our area, at least, the TPCSOs are funded by the Force and therefore could do more traffic related duties. Traffic in BMW X5s, Subarus, Mitsubishis, Volvo V7s and Range Rovers have a very high, dare I say glamorous profile. Can anyone honestly see them giving that up for pub fights and domestics?
The problem the plastic police have is that they aren't allowed to issue fines/ticket etc. Whenever someone is caught breaking the law, it is the real police that issue the ticket.
So riding bikes on pavements, dog fouling, anti-social behaviour, bad driving, drug dealers, etc, etc - all need the real police to deal with them.
In my opinion, their role is pretty pointless in that they can do what the rest of us do should they see something dodgy going on - call the police! After all, many of these people are only PCSOs because the real force wouldn't have them. They'd be better utilised as secretaries completing the paperwork the actual police officers have to to allow some policing.
There are ex-forces personnel who've fought in Northern Ireland, The Falklnds, Iraq and Afghanistan who are PCSOs because the Police wouldn't have them. Why? Because they aren't touchy-feely enough.
PCSOs were introduced to deal with the so-called minor offences of public nuisance. It was thought that despatching a Police Officer to deal with kids kicking a football around was a waste of resources; there's a good argument in that. They can issue PNDs or Penalty Notice for Disorder for a wide variety of things such as littering, dog fouling and Public Order offences.
They are also used to tidy-up, so to speak. If there is a Perimeter round a crime scene for example, you'll quite often see PCSOs on the cordon. Follow ups to burglary or robbery victims are quite often done by them as well as they can get Social Services involved where an elderly person needs help or a child is at risk. They can give crime prevention advice and have the time to do what a lot of the oldies want; which is to have a cup of tea and empathise. You'd be surprised how much info is gathered over a cuppa.
In one of our Divisions, just over 50% of targetted arrests were carried out because of intelligence put on the system by PCSOs. Where I live we've had an increase in the number of alley-gating schemes because of the activities of PCSOs, something the Cops never had time for.
As I said above, what PCSOs can and can't do is laid down by the Home Office. What TPCSOs can and can't do is decided by the local Force. If you have a good Neighbourhood Inspector he will deploy his staff well and effectively and make sure his PCSOs are active and make sure they get the right level of support from the Cops, otherwise they are on their own and that will affect their confidence.
Look at the comparison in an aggressive situation.
Cop : Baton, CS Spray, Handcuffs and (possibly) Taser.
PCSO : Sense of humour, PND book and pen.
I can guarantee that somewhere in your area is a PCSO who's been injured fighting with some shoplifter/drug addict/drunk/vandal (delete as applicable). Would you take on one of these people on your own? No, didn't think so.
