A NEW police team member has been walking the beat in Okehampton and meeting the public over the last three weeks. It is all part of a force initiative to increase high visibility town centre policing. Kevin Williams is one of nine new Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) who arrived in South and West Devon three weeks ago. The role of the new PCSOs is to help reduce incidents of crime, criminal damage and the fear of crime Kevin, 41, who was previously self-employed before he decided to take up the challenge of joining the constabulary, said he was enjoying the new job. ?I am finding it very interesting as probably 80 per cent of the time, I go out and meet the public,? he said. ?Everyone I speak to seems to say how pleased they are to see more police on the beat.? Kevin said one of his key roles was to reduce the fear of crime. He will be liaising with business leaders and youth groups to hear about problems they are having and what could be done to resolve them. He said the job of community support officer was ?still evolving? and the powers of a PCSO were open to change. Kevin will now undertake a further three weeks of classroom-based learning to complete his nine-week training. His role will involve working closely with the two recently appointed Neighbourhood Beat Managers who cover Okehampton, PC Carl Seaward and PC Andy Wiggins. PC Seaward is currently spending a good deal of time building links with Okehampton College, contributing to impact days and careers fairs. He also covers the west side of Okehampton. PC Wiggins, who transferred to West Devon from the Metropolitan Police, said the two environments were ?poles apart?. But he added: ?Police work is the same wherever you are, it?s how we deal with it that differs, here it?s a lot more community-based.? Sgt Richard Nettleship, Okehampton team sergeant, paid tribute to the officers he was working with. ?It?s a young team. It?s a new team. We have got a really good batch of people,? he said. Sgt Nettleship said a major challenge for the force was changing people?s perceptions. He said despite the fear of crime, West Devon was still a very safe place to live. The first Police Community Support Officers joined the force two years ago at Honiton and Truro. Another new recruit to the Okehampton team is teenager Hayley Jones who became a special constable two months ago. Former Okehampton College student Hayley said she had always wanted to join the police force, but as she was keen to carry on with her studies, she had joined the ranks of the specials for a taster of what police life was like. PCSOs are police staff members who are operationally focused within the communities and wear a uniform with light blue chequered bands around their hats, identifying them as part of the extended police family. They assist police officers in crime prevention by proactively dealing with low level incidents before they become serious crimes. The intention is that they interact with the community to promote public reassurance. To assist them to achieve their role they have a number of police powers to include the power of detention and the issue of fixed penalty notices for a range of offences as well as addressing issues of truancy, littering and dog fouling. Other duties they will perform include tackling anti-social behaviour including the disposal or confiscation of alcohol and tobacco in appropriate circumstances.
