[Osem]

The wife, kids and I were out for a walk this afternoon to feed the ducks and came across rather more PCSOs than normally grace these parts. Not sure what was going on, we carried on towards the park and came across a large mob of youths congregated around a bus stop outside a fast food joint. I have no idea what had kicked off but I was struck by the total lack of respect these kids had for the PCSOs. They were swearing and trying to intimidate them in front of passers by, including a fair number of younger school kids who'd just got off the bus for some of whom it all seemed a jolly good laugh.

For me the scene it summed up so much of what Bliar 'achieved' -presentation over substance. The PCSOs had clearly radioed for help but as several friends in the police service have pointed out to me over time, there are often no real police left in this area to deal with trouble. Of course little old ladies feel better when they see the uniform but that's cold comfort when they get robbed or mugged and have to wait for hours for the real thing to turn up.

I don't blame the PCSOs, I blame the Government for putting them in an impossible position in pursuit of yet another quick fix to a difficult problem.