Clause 35 - Police powers for police authority employees
Police Reform Bill [Lords]
11:15 am
Mr Norman Baker (Lewes, Liberal Democrat)
That is exactly right. I understand and support the Government's entirely honourable motives, which are to deal with antisocial situations and low-level crime, which is currently not addressed. However, the Government are being unfair to put CSOs in situations in which they could be surrounded by boisterous individuals and have to hold the situation for half an hour without even the certainty that a police officer would attend within that time. CSOs would not have the same depth of training as police officers to deal with such a situation and they will not have further powers required to handle the situation. They will be exposed to vulnerable situations, such as a Friday night in a town centre. We should not put people in such situations.