Diversifying police recruitment? the deployment of Police Community Support Officers in London

摘要

As part of a drive to extend the police family, the Police Reform Act (2002) introduced Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) into the police service. Though the main function of PCSOs is to enhance public reassurance by providing visible uniformed patrol, it is also anticipated that PCSO 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 paper 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.