Community Policing

The Home Office conducted a national audit of Community Safety Accreditation Schemes in spring 2008. The audit showed that 23 forces had Community Safety Accreditation Schemes in place, with a total of 95 approved organisations and 1406 Accredited Persons. In addition, 33 forces had a VOSA scheme in place with a total of 255 Accredited Persons. View the national audit document.

Employees of approved Organisations can be designated with (subject to satisfactory vetting, clearance and training) limited, targeted powers that could help to improve the impact they are having on community safety, anti-social behaviour and liveability issues.

Employers benefit from public confidence that their employees have reached acceptable standards of appearance, suitability for the post and training. In turn, the public is assured that the organisation itself has been approved by the Chief Officer and has therefore reached acceptable standards in management, supervision and accountability.

Accreditation schemes help the police to strengthen their links with organisations already contributing to community safety and ensure the standards of those working to assist them in their force area. 

The police can also ensure that those carrying out patrols in the community are able to gather and present intelligence in a way that best suits police needs.

By making targeted powers available to those working to promote community safety, accreditation allows some issues in the community to be solved without the police and so saves police officer time.

No. The Police Reform Act 2002 makes it clear that setting up an accreditation scheme is at the discretion of the Chief Officer (Chief Constable) after consultation. It is then a matter for local employers to decide whether they want their employees to be accredited and what, if any, powers they wish the Chief Officer to consider designating to their staff.

No. The Police Reform Act states that setting up an accreditation scheme must be preceded by a process of consultation by the police with the appropriate police authority and the local authorities that fall within the police force area (in London this means all the borough authorities plus the Mayor). This will give those bodies an opportunity to give their views on how the standards and processes for accreditation might work in their area.

Police authorities will also have to detail their plans for setting up and maintaining community safety accreditation schemes in their annual policing plans.

Any organisation involved in community safety can apply for accreditation of its employees. Employers who might seek accreditation include local authorities, housing associations local voluntary sector organisations, as well as licensed private security firms, NHS trusts, organisations responsible for railway security or vehicle inspection, charitable organisations and some companies in the leisure industry (such as those who act as stewards in sports grounds).

We see accreditation as an important way of harnessing the energy and commitment of private sector employees such as those who patrol shopping malls and town centres, employees who supervise crowds in sports grounds or private sector wardens working under contract to a local authority.

It is our view that the extended police family should include those in community safety or security roles regardless of whether they are drawn from the public, private or voluntary sectors.

There may be some advantages in accrediting football stewards. Accreditation could strengthen the links between the police and their partners in policing football matches.
It is an offence to obstruct an accredited person in the execution of their duty. If a persistent troublemaker obstructed a football steward who had been accredited, this could help when seeking a football banning order against him.

Although APs may issue Penalty Notices for Disorder, the Government’s view is that these should not be issued by anyone for football related offences, so they would not be issued by accredited football stewards.

A number of forces have established specialist accreditation schemes for inspectors in the Vehicle Operator Services Agency (VOSA). VOSA Inspectors are issued with the single power to stop vehicles for the purpose of testing. This allows them to test vehicles without police assistance and so releases Police Officers to focus on other tasks.

Download a full list of the powers available to APs is available here.

No. Accredited persons do not have any special powers of arrest or detention.

Accreditation gives wardens an opportunity to take on more powers. Although some warden schemes are not keen to take on powers, others feel that some powers, used in full co-operation with the police, may be of use. Wardens do not have to be issued with all or any of the powers that are available. They need only take on the ones that they and their police force feel would be of particular use to them.

None of the powers are compulsory and wardens will only be designated with them where both the police and employers consider it to be a good idea.

The Police Reform Act sets out a number of requirements on force chief officers before they can make an accreditation. They must be satisfied of the following:
1.. The employing organisation must have a satisfactory complaints procedure (PRA 2002 40[9]). 

2. The employing organisation must be fit and proper person to supervise the work of an accredited person (PRA 2002 41[4a]). 

3. The employee is suitable to exercise the powers that are to be conferred upon him (PRA 2002 41[4b]). 

4. The employee is capable of effectively carrying out the functions for the purpose of which these powers are being conferred upon him (PRA 2002 41[4c]). 

5. The employee has received adequate training for the exercise of these powers (PRA 2002 41[4d]).

The Police Reform Act 2002 41(4d) states that a force Chief Officer may not grant accreditation unless he is satisfied that the person concerned has received adequate training for the exercise of his powers. It is therefore a matter for the Chief Officer to determine the extent of the training required by the employee in order to be accredited. This will vary depending on the role being carried out by the AP and the powers that will be designated to him/her. It is the responsibility of the approved employer to ensure its employee(s) receive adequate training to satisfy the requirements of the Chief Officer. For more information on training and training packages, please visit the skills for security website.

It is a matter for the force Chief Officer to decide the checks required of a person seeking accreditation. Most forces with accreditation schemes have required candidates to undergo an ‘‘enhanced’ Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check.

This could happen. Not all of the employees an organisation puts forward may meet the standards required. There is no general solution to this problem and responses will differ depending on the numbers of employees affected, the deployment requirements of the employers and the views of the force. Potential solutions include only accrediting supervisors or the redeployment of those who do not meet the standards. Whatever the favoured option it will clearly require sensitive management by the employers and the force.

APs remain under the full control of their employer. Where the police and the employer have together developed deployment arrangements and protocols, accreditation will strengthen this. However, accreditation does not require that the police direct the deployment of APs.

Costs incurred by the police in the accreditation process can be passed on to the organisation concerned (PRA 2002 s.41(5)(a) and (b)). These can include the costs of periodic re-assessment. The cost of actual accreditation schemes varies from force to force. 

Accredited People remain under the control of their employer and, in the event of a civil action resulting from the unlawful conduct of an accredited person, the employer is held to be joint tortfeasor.

Section 40(9) of the Police Reform Act 2002 states that it is the duty of a force chief officer who establishes a community safety accreditation scheme to ensure that the employers concerned have satisfactory arrangements for handling complaints. Each organisation that employs APs, therefore, will have its own complaints procedure to which members of the public should first apply.

Under Section 42(2) of the Police Reform Act, APs may only exercise the powers conferred on them in a uniform that has been approved by the force chief officer.
None of the forces with accreditation schemes have required people accredited by them to change their uniform. Police forces have determined that for now it is better that accredited people continue to use the brands they have already developed. Some forces may, in the long run, decide that it is better to standardise the uniforms of accredited people across a force area.

The badge must be worn on the uniform of any accredited person before they can exercise any of the powers granted to them under an accreditation.

The badge must replicate the proportions and colours of the published badge and be worn in the chest region of the uniform to ensure proper visibility when dealing with members of the public face to face, and must be of a minimum size of 73mm x 80mm. Details of how the badge may be worn or used in logo form are set out in the style guide provided by the Home Office, copies of which are available from the contact above. Beyond this the exact proportions and location of the badge are a matter for the chief officer.

Unlike Accredited Persons, Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) are employed by the Police Authority, they are police staff and act under the full control of the force chief officer. They are eligible for a similar, though larger range of powers than APs. A significant difference is that PCSOs can detain a suspect for 30 minutes if they believe they have been given a false name and address under certain circumstances. They can also be designated with a number of search and seizure powers that are not available to accredited persons.
A frequently asked questions document about PCSOs is available on the Police Reform website as well as a full list of the powers available to them.

The police and their partners in community safety have a range of options available to them for providing patrols in their communities. These include PCSOs, employees of local authorities, whether accredited or not, and private organisations’ employees, again both accredited and not.

The Government’s view is that local decision-makers are best placed to decide what suits their area. Different places have used different combinations of the various options on offer. Many areas have found that the different types of patrol work well together and can complement each other’s roles.

APs can only exercise their powers in the area of the force that has accredited them (this is with the exception of the power to direct traffic for the purposes of escorting an abnormal load). APs must be clearly wearing the accreditation badge. The AP must also be able to present a document detailing their accreditation on request. This accreditation should describe the AP’s uniform.

The Association of Chief Police Officers have issued guidance on Accreditation that addresses this issue. It recommends that, where a large national organisation seeks accreditation for its staff to operate in more than one area, it should apply first to the police force area where the head office of the relevant organisation is located, making clear in its application which areas it intends its staff to operate. That force should then consult with all the relevant forces before accrediting the organisation. The ACPO guidance on Accreditation is available here