‘Bored’ PCSOs blamed for half of misconduct

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Senior officers at Scotland Yard agreed to review the civilian role after they found a disproportionate number of staff were being disciplined.

They discovered PCSOs accounted for more than half of all police staff gross misconduct cases during the last financial year despite only making up about one fifth of the workforce.

In more than half the cases, employees were sacked or reprimanded for criminal offences.

Other PCSOs were disciplined after they were caught misusing police computers, behaving inappropriately and in one case, making a false allegation.

The report, which was being discussed at a meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority today, added that 20 of the 35 PCSOs found guilty of gross misconduct were sacked, with the remaining 15 handed formal reprimands. Martin Tiplady, director of human resources at the Met, said: "Some [PCSOs] felt as though they were glorified security guards' This led to feelings of boredom and reduced motivation."

PCSOs were introduced in 2002 to increase the uniformed police presence on the streets.