Non-Subscriber Extract
Private security plan branded 'policing on the cheap'
- Article Tools
| 15 March 2001 |
UNIFORMED community wardens patrolling a Hull estate have drawn criticism of 'policing on the cheap' from the local Federation. The Federation is concerned that the wardens, who this week began their beat on the Great Thornton Estate, will not be as accountable as the police and is objecting to the idea of civilians in uniform on foot patrol.
Stuart Downes, Federation chairman, said: 'We support the concept of working in partnership but not the idea of private security taking over patrolling the streets… There is an active recruiting campaign in this force, and we support a more high-visibility approach to policing which the force is also adopting. There's certainly been little police input into their training and they have limited powers. I see little benefit to be gained from street wardens.'
Mr Downes also expressed alarm that the wardens wore uniforms. 'I believe they shouldn't be wearing any form of uniform which gives the impression they are police officers,' he said. 'It gives the impression they are… taking over from the police. It could be a form of policing on the cheap.'
The team of six wardens will be on duty seven days a week, although they have no powers of arrest and are instructed to report to police officers. But they will be visiting the victims of crime to lend support, repairing damage done in break-ins, providing crime prevention advice and marking property.
The scheme was devised by the city's Goodwin Resource Centre, and financed by a Home Office grant match-funded by local housing associations and Hull City Council.
John Marshall, the Goodwin Centre's warden manager, said: 'The uniform is informal; it's obvious they're not police officers. The wardens have been given clear instructions on what they can and cannot do. If they see a crime in progress they won't intervene.'
Ch Insp Mark Stafford of Hull Police said he 'broadly supported' the scheme. 'They're an extra pair of eyes and ears,' he said. 'They're not police officers and they're not taking over from the police. They will complement the force.'