Operational partnerships - Police Community Support Officers policy (O38)

O38 Police Community Support Officers

1. Security protective marking

1.1. Not protectively marked.

2. Summary of Changes

2.1. This policy was reviewed in January 2025 and the following amendments have been made:
• Update to PCSO role types.
• Update to PCSO role and purpose defined by College of Policing.
Compliance with this policy and any linked Standard Operating Procedures is mandatory.

3. What this Policy is About

3.1. This policy applies to Police Community Support Officers and their supervisors.

3.2. This policy details the role, powers and deployment of a Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) in Kent.

4. Statement of Policy

4.1. The Police Reform Act 2002 created a new role in the police service, namely that of the PCSO. A PCSO is a non-warranted Police Staff Employee (PSE), who is an employee of the Police and Crime Commissioner, designated with certain powers by the Chief Constable.

4.2. PCSOs are funded by Kent Police and in respect of specific roles, a variety of partners including District and Parish Councils across Kent, Housing Associations, schools, and other private sector sponsors.

4.3. The role and purpose of a PCSO has been defined by College of Policing, updated in June 2022. PCSOs should:
• Be integrated into a neighbourhood policing team (normally geographic but it could be for a defined community of interest, such as safer transport teams, new and emerging communities, online communities).
• Develop comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the local community in which they operate to identify and effectively support those in their community affected by offending and those who are vulnerable or at risk.
• Proactively engage and develop close working ties with the community, using appropriate communication methods and IT systems for fostering, promoting and maintaining channels of communication.
• Develop close working relationships with key groups, agencies (such as local authority, housing associations, schools, watch schemes) and individuals to identify and tackle issues such as anti-social behaviour (ASB) and low-level offending.
• Build rapport, trust and confidence with individuals across the community, providing advice and guidance in support of their needs (such as crime prevention advice and mediation between members of the community).
• Contribute to the planning, implementation, analysis and review of evidence-based policing initiatives to address community problems and share the outcomes of those initiatives with all key stakeholders, both inside and outside the service.
• Gather information and intelligence to assist and support law enforcement and community objectives.
• Respond to incidents of low-level offending and ASB. Where incidents are outside their authority, they should seek to prevent escalation until relieved by a qualified police constable.
• Defuse conflict or threat of conflict using personal safety techniques and equipment learnt in training. If this is not possible, PCSOs should ensure attending constables are informed by keeping a safe distance and using their police radio to provide updates to other colleagues about the incident.
• Attend court and give witness testimony in relation to any incidents where they have personal knowledge or involvement.
• Be motivated critical thinkers and capable of self-deployment. PCSO activity should be targeted through appropriate partnership tasking arrangements.

4.4. In order to achieve this aim, supervisors should ensure that each PCSO maximises the amount of time spent on patrol duties/working within the community as opposed to administrative or other non-operational duties.

4.5. Role requirements now exist for the following specialist PCSO roles:
• Rural Task Force PCSO – Grade D (role code SDV047)
• Child Centred Policing Team PCSO – Grade D (role code SDV045)
• Neighbourhood Task Force PCSO – Grade D (role code SDV046)
The College of Policing have produced the PCSO Handbook in March 2024. This should be used as the primary reference for any queries in relation to PCSO deployment and powers.

5. Implications of the policy

5.1. Financial implications - Police Community Support Officers are uniformed Police staff with limited enforcement powers. There are costs incurred in initial foundation training and officer safety training.

6. Equality Impact Assessment

6.1. This policy has been assessed with regard to its impact on race and diversity equality. As a result of this assessment, the policy has been graded as having a high potential impact.

7. Monitoring and Review

7.1. This policy will be reviewed every two years or when new legislation or guidance amends current policy. The next review will take place in January 2027.

8. Security

8.1. Kent Police have measures in place to protect the security of your data in accordance with our Information Management Policy (Policy W1000 – Information Management).

9. Retention and Disposal of Records

9.1. Kent Police will hold data in accordance with our Records Review, Retention and Disposal Policy (Policy W1012 – Records Review, Retention and Disposal).