PCSO patrol??

[ame]

hi all ..just a quick question!! are you allowed to patrol or get to work in maybe your own town,city where you live?? many thanks

[SgtAngel]

There is no reason why not, it just depends on individual force policies.  Also do you want to bump into people who you have dealt with when you are off duty? Its a personal choice.

[Chief]

Yes,
many PCSOs patrol and work in the areas in which they live. I know of one covering the area near us who patrols outside the local school. I often see her picking her kids up from the same school.

[ame]

Metplod very good point! no i would not like to bump into people maybe who i have had to deal with ..thanks for your response guys

[dija]

As a PC I was given my home borough when at Hendon. At first I was really worried about being so close to home, bumping in to people I know etc.

However, 15 months on I have found the benefits far outweigh any disadvantages - I can be home in bed within about 10mins of my shift, I know the area very well having lived here for 38 years(!), I am near my kids if there are any problems, quite often when we are dispersing groups of youngsters I recognise one or two of them which often assists in them moving on without them getting lippy at me as they know me from days when I helped at the school with my own children and on school trips or at through scouts etc!

I was worried as to whether my sons would be caused problems but this has not happened so far - they have had one kid at school come up and tell them he was arrested by me but added that I was really nice! I hasten to add I had not told my kids about the incident.

I have stopped drivers who know me - they just seem to accept my reasons and have never caused problems.

Out of uniform people rarely recognise me so this has not been a problem.

As a precaution I drive to and from work on lates and sometimes on nights - I only live about a 15 min walk from work but am aware that I could be followed easily.

Personally I enjoy working locally but appreciate that it may not be for everyone!

Hope this helps.

[chica]

Yeah, but not too local to where you live