'Boredom gets PCSOs into trouble'

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

They discovered police community support officers (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 of cases, employees were sacked or reprimanded for criminal offences, including drinking and driving and other motoring crimes.

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

Twenty of the 35 PCSOs found guilty of gross misconduct were sacked, with the remaining 15 handed formal reprimands. A further 20 cases of less serious misconduct by PCSOs were recorded.

Martin Tiplady, director of human resources, said boredom and reduced motivation were partly responsible for indiscipline. He said some PCSOs did not recognise the authority of their managers and did not understand the strict policing hierarchy within the force.

And he said the policy of encouraging those who failed their initial police constable training to become PCSOs was a recipe for dissatisfaction and low morale.

In a report to the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), Mr Tiplady said a damaging "them and us" attitude remained between officers and PCSOs. Mr Tiplady said PCSOs performing security roles were more likely to get into trouble than those on borough units.

PCSOs were introduced to increase the uniformed police presence on the streets and divert low-level responsibilities away from more expensive sworn officers. But the role attracted criticism from the Police Federation who accused the Labour Government of undermining the role of constable and "policing on the cheap".