UK News 06-12-2001 PC Blunkett`s Civilian Police Force who: Home Secretary David Blunkett what: Unveils new role for civilians in modernisation of police where: LONDON when: Yesterday snippet: Photographed at a London housing estate yesterday with a constable standing directly behind him, home secretary David Blunkett appears to have a policeman`s helmet perched daintily on his head in today`s Telegraph. But he won`t be welcomed into the ranks of the Police Federation, whose chairman Fred Broughton yesterday described plans for a 10,000-strong force of "community support officers" as "a recipe for disaster". "CSOs are designed to free up police to deal with more serious offences," explains The Mirror, supportively, noting that the new force is merely the most newsworthy feature in a programme of modernisation. "They would be used for house-to-house inquiries, missing person investigations, issuing fines and dealing with street corner yobs." "They`ll be given specific duties within strictly defined limits," said Mr Blunkett, quoted in The Sun. "Our endeavour is to face down the anti-social and thuggish behaviour which bedevils our streets, parks and open spaces." The Association of Chief Police Officers is expected to give a cautious welcome to many of the proposals, reports The Evening Standard. However, Fred Broughton called it a "major constitutional change" and warned that the integration of second-tier policing "alters the relationship between the citizen and the state regarding their liberty". [... more]

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