On the beat (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

On the beat

10:55am Friday 19th June 2009

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OUR report last week about the supposed problems faced by police community support officers looking after villages near Darlington, in not having access to patrol cars, has prompted a debate about how officers should be deployed.

Until quite recently, instructions to chief officers to get more policemen and women “out on the beat” was followed by an increase in patrols by car. While the car is an essential tool when officers need to be somewhere quickly, they are not helpful in connecting officers with the communities they are meant to serve.

The car is remarkably isolating machine. As we have all seen when observing others in traffic, it cuts people off from the world around them.

A “bobby (or PCSO) on the beat” should be just that, an officer patrolling by foot with eyes on that community (as opposed to the road ahead) and his ears working too. The best intelligence is always gathered from people and it is hard to do that cocooned in a motor vehicle.

We have seen in recent times welcome initiatives to get officers re-connected in this way, with the use of bicycles among the alternative transport methods being used.

Should a PCSO have to take a bus to reach his or her patch, that would not necessarily be a bad thing. Provided there is a bus service, of course.

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