Town hall staff given power to hand out fines

Private security staff and council officials have been granted the enforcement capabilities under a Home Office scheme intended to free up police officers to deal with more serious crimes.

However critics have accused the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme of creating a third-tier level of unaccountable policing.

More than 1,600 civilians ranging from shop security guards, park wardens, housing officers, charity workers, dog wardens and football match stewards have been made part of the "extended police family" under the legislation.

Powers extend from issuing fines for truancy, cycling on a footpath, dog fouling and dropping litter to being able to direct traffic and dealing with cases of harassment and trespassing.

The accredited workers, who do not wear a uniform except for a small badge, can also demand names and addresses, but do not have the power to detain a suspect unlike Community Support Officers, who were also introduced to ease the burden on regular police officers.

Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said the scheme was an unjustified extension of surveillance powers and a way of covertly cutting policing costs.

He said: "The public will be angered that the Home Office is seeking to take serious powers that should be appropriately applied by the police and encouraging them to be given not just to local councils, but also to private firms.

"The public want to see real police on the streets discharging these responsibilities, not private firms who may use them inappropriately - including unnecessarily snooping on the lives of ordinary citizens."

The scheme was brought in under legislation in 2002 giving chief constables the power to serve penalty notices for anti-social crimes.

It has been sold to security firms as a way of increasing their profile and a commercially lucrative move.

The Home Office audit found 23 police forces have Community Safety Accreditation Schemes in place.

Councils and other public-sector organisations must pay between £300 and £315 to be accredited and between £35 to £90 per employee. Private-sector firms pay between £450 and £600 and then £32 to £132 per employee.

A Home Office spokesman said: "Community Safety Accreditation Schemes enable Chief Constables to designate limited powers to employees of organisations who contribute towards community safety.

"CSAS supports Neighbourhood Policing by building links and helping in the delivery of effective policing to neighbourhoods.

"Accredited persons have a key role to play in the delivery of Neighbourhood Policing and are an important part of the extended police family."