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UK: Police recruit 16-year-old support officers
The decision of a police force to recruit two 16-year-olds as community support officers to walk the beat met with astonishment across the wider policing community today.
The appointments, by Thames Valley Police, have sparked fears that police forces and the Government are trying to get "police on the cheap".
Despite the fact there is no official minimum age for PCSOs, at least nine other forces refuse to employ under 18s in the role.
The teenagers, who are undergoing training after passing their assessments, could be required to detain suspects until a police officer arrives, issue penalty notices, deal with minor offences, and guard crime scenes.
A spokesman for Sussex Police said he "couldn't imagine" his force would recruit anyone so young, and that no one aged 16 was currently doing the job.
A spokesman for the Lancashire force, which also does not employ under 18s as PCSOs, said 16-year-olds lacked the relevant "life experience" for the role.
Police in Kent, Hampshire, Gwent, Essex, Northumbria, Warwickshire and London all have similar policies in place preventing under 18s becoming PCSOs.
The teenagers will be able to confiscate alcohol consumed in a public place - despite being two years below the legal drinking age - and direct traffic and remove vehicles, even though they are too young to drive.
A spokeswoman for Northumbria Police, among those which do not employ under 18s, said: "Part of their job is to seize alcohol from under 18s so it would be inappropriate for a 16-year-old to be in possession of something they are not allowed to have."
Lancashire Police, said it was force policy not to employ PSCOs before their 18th birthday.
"This is a decision made at the interview stage because a lot of the work they do is based on life experiences, and when you're under 18 you haven't got that much," a spokesman said.
But Thames Valley Police stuck by their decision to recruit the two 16-year-olds, who they said had "demonstrated the skills that we need"
A spokeswoman said: "They bring experience of being able to interact with the public, especially young people. If you are good enough you are old enough."
Unlike the police force, which has a minimum age requirement of 18, there is no restriction on how old a PCSO has to be.
Several other forces, including Cleveland, Durham and Staffordshire said they would consider employing under 18s, for fear of contravening age discrimination legislation.
Police are dishing out on the spot fines for crimes such as being drunk and disorderly at a rate of one every three minutes.
New figures reveal that the number of penalty notices for disorder (PNDs) handed out in England and Wales increased by 38 per cent last year compared with 2005 to 180,083.
Critics say PNDs are being overused to enable police to meet tough government targets that say 1.25 million offences must be brought to justice in 2007.
Offenders are being handed the
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Posted in: News on August 20, 2007 @ 12:00 AM
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Life Experience? More like age, you motherfucker. D:<
And even then they're just doing it so they can have a bunch of little helpers who they don't have to pay.
(I meant The ageist spokesperson, BTW.)
Nothing wrong with it. The kid is working it on his own, it's his life.
that's such shit, the law barely considers them people but they're still old enough to be sent out into harms way to uphold it? what the hell is wrong with the UK this days???