Clause 1 - Traffic officers: introduction
Traffic Management Bill
10:30 am
Mr Christopher Chope (Christchurch, Conservative)
Can the Minister clarify one point? I understand that community support officers have a specific responsibility to escort abnormal loads on the motorways. I understand that traffic officers, too, will have the same duty. Community support officers are given specific powers of arrest in particular circumstances, and they are given quasi-legal responsibilities more akin to those of the police officer. Are we saying that, in the hierarchy of things, a community support officer will be a superior being to the traffic officer, even when they are carrying out the same function, and even if the traffic officer has higher qualifications?