Blurring Lines

The difference between a Police Officer and a Police Community Support Officer is getting less and less distinct.

Meanwhile, numbers of Police Officers are set to decline.

Is this healthy?

I'm not usually one for conspiracy theories, but is the Home Office really doing its best to replace PCs with PCSOs? The reason behind it would be simple. Money. A PCSO costs less to train, pay, and pension off.

I wonder if there will be another news article coming soon that "In an experiment, North Nowhereville Police Community Support Officers are to be given powers of arrest with certain crimes to combat low level crime and disorder"

I for one will not be surprised. And then the low level crime and disorder will be replaced with all offences. I'm surprised Liberty or someone similar hasn't started making noises about how people with limited training are getting more and more powers of detention and search, without the established discipline and complaints procedure that exist for police officers.

Its a shame that the only PCSO blogger I know about has been forced to shut down. Check out the graveyard for the link, if it's still active.