More PCs means no extra PSCO powers

POLICE community support officers (PCSOs) won't be given increased powers because more constables are due to beef up neighbourhood teams, a police and crime commissioner said.

- RICHARD YOULE

Dafydd Llywelyn also said that giving PCSOs more powers would make them less visible to the public in the Dyfed-Powys force area as they'd become more tied up with investigative work.

Mr Llywelyn had been asked at a Dyfed-Powys police and crime panel meeting if there was a case to extend PCSO powers to help them give greater support to warranted officers.

PCSOs can issue fixed penalty notices for things like littering and take alcohol off a person aged under 18. They can detain someone but generally do not have formal powers of arrest.

Addressing the panel, Mr Llywelyn said it was a question he was often asked and one he'd raised with a number of chief constables.