§ Mr. BaileyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact of community support officers on the level of crime in the pilot areas. [97005]
§ Mr. DenhamTwenty seven police forces in England and Wales made successful bids last year for a share of the £19 million fund for the introduction of Community Support Officers (CSOs). Training programmes in each force will see more than 1,000 CSOs patrolling the streets by the end of March this year.
The money given to each police force includes an element for evaluation and forces are due to give us initial findings by the end of September. At this stage, it is premature for any meaningful analysis of their effect although there are already early indications of decreased crime in the areas where CSOs have been deployed.