Revealed: The hijab-wearing 17-year-old Muslim girl hired as a community police officer

The Daily Mail revealed on Monday how Thames Valley police were employing two 16-year-old schoolleavers as PCSOs.

Yesterday it emerged that the force also recruited three 17-year-olds, including Nadia Naeem, now 18, who wears the hijab.

All now have the power to detain and question suspects.

The Police Federation representing rank-and-file officers claims the teenagers, who are still legally children, will lack the maturity and life experience necessary to do a dangerous job.

It says PCSOs are recruited as cheap replacements for mainstream officers.

But Thames Valley police insist the teenagers have the necessary skills.

A spokesman said that "if you are good enough, you are old enough". Miss Naeem, from Bicester, Oxfordshire,

joined the force - which covers Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire - in February.

She patrols the town's East Neighbourhood zone along with four other PCSOs.

She is expected to issue penalty notices, pull over vehicles and carry out 'stop and search' procedures under terror laws.

At the time she was recruited, aged 17, she would have had the power to seize alcohol from anyone in the street despite being too young to drink herself.

According to one resident in her home town, she used to work in the local Tesco.

Community support officers were introduced in 2003 by then Home Secretary David Blunkett as a means of providing an extra reassuring presence on the street.

'Blunkett's Bobbies' have only a fraction of the training given to mainstream colleagues - an initial five-week course compared to 19 for regular police officers.

The teenage PCSOs have now been dubbed Blunkett's Babies.

Police Federation spokesman Metin Enver yesterday called for a minimum recruitment age for the civilian officers of 18, the same as for regular police officers.

He said: "What we are seeing in Thames Valley is chief officers and chief constables looking at ways to save money.

"By replacing sworn police officers with PCSOs we are not getting the level of maturity and expertise which local people-will quite rightly want and deserve.

"If someone does not have the level of expertise or maturity, especially in confrontational or aggressive situations, not only are they putting themselves at risk, but other members of public in danger."

A spokesman for Thames Valley Police refused to reveal who the other four young recruits are.

"We do not want to personalise this and turn the matter into a focus on these young people's competency to do the job," the spokesman said.

The 16-year-old boys work in Reading, Berkshire. It is believed the other two 17-year-olds are based in Oxfordshire.

Thames Valley PCSOs earn £17,000 £20,000, depending on their work hours. A full PC starts at £21,000, rising to £33,000.

At least five other forces are known to employ PCSOs under 18, or have admitted doing so in the past.