How to become a PCSO...
How to become a PCSO? If that is the burning question on your lips .... I hope this site will give you an insight into becoming a PCSO and the qualities required to be a PCSO. In the following pages you will find out a little about how to become a PCSO, the role of the PCSO, a few facts about the daily life and work of the PCSO, and some ideas about PCSO recruitment and the process involved in becoming a PCSO. We will also give you some tips on how to get yourself prepared particularly for the PCSO application, PCSO tests, and the PCSO interview.
How to become a PCSO website....
This site is aimed at people who want to become a PCSO in the UK and for those who are thinking about entering the PCSO recruitment process. If you don't know the first thing about how to be a PCSO then you have come to the right place...
The PCSO job is well paid and can be really interesting. As a PCSO no two days are the same. Your role as a member of the wider Police family can be very varied and challenging and as you will see the role of the PCSO.. can be very rewarding and challenging.
Police community support officers (PCSO's) pay varies between police forces. This is because pay is agreed at a force level rather than a national level. In general PCSO pay starts somewhere over £16000 and rises with experience. In some forces there are additional allowances that can take salaries up to around a top level of £26 k. The PCSO job attracts other benefits such as 21 days minimum of annual leave in addition to your rostered rest days. Shift allowance for unsocial hours, paid overtime at enhanced rates, paid sickness leave, flexible working hours and much more.
Many people who want to be a PCSO find the role offers them a means to furthering a career within the Police Force. There are opportunities, when you have the relevant experience, to become a tutor for new PCSO's joining the role. Some Police Forces have created a PCSO supervisors role for those aspiring for promotion. There are also many PCSO's who have gone on to become Police Constables in recent years also.
Your work as a police community support officer (PCSO) can be very exciting with each day there comes new challenges preventing crime and deterring anti social behaviour. Each day you may be involved with some of the following and a lot more ! ....
- Supporting the victims of crime.
- High Visibility patrol increasing awareness and public safety.
- School visits dealing with truants and building relationships with your community.
- Dealing with missing persons enquiries, revisits to crime scenes offering crime prevention advice.
- Local community engagement at events.
- Crime prevention surgeries and property marking.
- Local residents satisfaction surveys.
PCSO's have an invaluable part to play in preventing minor problems of disorder and petty crime from escalating to big community issues and by being there, in the community, when it counts PCSO's make all the difference.
PCSO's fitting seamlessly into the wider police family...
One of the main roles of the PCSO is to offer our local communities confidence in the Police Force they represent. They also give those very same communities confidence in themselves empowering the local people.
The role of the PCSO is a demanding one without doubt. You will work as part of a neighbourhood policing team who work tirelessly solving local issues in their area. Those issues are guided by the local public and by the Force priorities. The overall priority is public satisfaction so helping reduce crime and reducing incidents of anti social behaviour in support of your front line police colleagues will take up a majority of your time.
You will also need the necessary skills to deal courteously and efficiently with members of the public. Use good personal communication skills establishing links with local businesses and community groups and community leaders. You will also deal with nuisance offences such as drunken behaviour and drinking in the street and numerous other minor offences. You will be given a small number of powers to assist with this role.
As a PCSO you will not have the same powers as a police constable and neither will you perform the same duties. You will not have a power of arrest or be able to deal with prisoners. You will investigate some low level crime but you wont investigate serious crime or carry out the more demanding tasks that police officers perform such as public order policing or violent arrests. Both roles are different but equally they are also complimentary to each other and PCSO's and Police Officers integrate seamlessly into one unit to get the job done. |
