Clause 62 - Community support officers etc
Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill
4:45 pm
Mr Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley, Conservative)
I seek some assurances, because reading the explanatory notes, I understand that the chief police officer can authorise community support officers and accredit other persons. I agree with community support officers having that power, and clearly everybody knows how they dress, so there is no problem about their authority. However, we have heard that traffic wardens' powers will be widened, so the chief police officer may decide to confer authority on other people who do not quite have the same authority as community support officers or other police officers. Environmental health officers and other people out of uniform, just wearing normal lounge suits, could be authorised.
In areas where there is a neighbourhood watch the chief police officer may decide to get more people involved. As I understand it, if I see something going wrong, I have the power to make a citizen's arrest—I have never done so, although I tried to apprehend a shoplifter and got a black eye, which I nursed over Christmas three years ago. Something I saw was wrong, and I felt that I had the power to detain that person until the police arrived.
The chief police officer will authorise neighbourhood watch personnel, and they will have the authority. That is what it all comes down to: the police are officially conferring authority on people to enforce byelaws. It could mean issuing fixed penalty tickets, if that is what the chief police officer wants.