PCSOs 'do not boost confidence'

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ITV conducted an online survey with 2,800 members of its ITV Vision Panel and found only 30% agreed they feel safer thanks to the controversial civilian wardens.

Some 50% of respondents said they do not feel safer, while the remainder "don't know".

The survey findings will be revealed in ITV1's Tonight With Trevor McDonald.

More than two thirds (69%) of respondents also said they thought there is more crime today than five years ago.

PCSOs were dubbed "plastic policemen" and "Blunkett's bouncers" after they were introduced by the then home secretary David Blunkett in 2002.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "Police Community Support Officers are an invaluable addition to policing. They are a complement to, not a replacement for, sworn police officers."

"PCSOs typically work as part of neighbourhood policing teams focusing predominantly on lower level crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour.

"Their role is to provide high visibility, reassurance policing, engaging with local people, patrolling the streets and building confidence and reassurance in communities."