Diversifying Police Recruitment? The Deployment of Police Community Support Officers in London

Abstract

Abstract: As part of its drive to extend ‘the police family’, the Police Reform Act 2002 introduced police community support officers (PCSOs) into the service. Although the main function of PCSOs is to enhance public reassurance by providing visible uniformed patrol, it is also anticipated that PSCO recruitment – more demographically diverse than regular recruitment – will make the police more genuinely representative of the diverse communities they police. Drawing upon research carried out in the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), this article considers how far quantitative targets in respect of diverse recruitment are being met; outlines some of the organisational problems impacting on diversity; and notes the limitations of greater ‘representativeness’.