Local policing levels have been a matter of public concern for decades, but the combination of a move to car-based patrolling, year-on-year declines in police numbers, and the growth of private security provision made the relative absence of street policing a priority issue as Labour took office in 1997. Not only was this lack of visible local policing seen as increasing the risk of crime but also as facilitating problems of anti-social behaviour and environmental disorder. Such ‘lowerlevel’ issues of noise, vandalism, graffiti, and fly-tipping were gaining public attention as problems that could hamper quality of life and an area's success, especially low-income areas that typically experience above-average rates of crime and disorder. This chapter considers one response to these simultaneous demands to focus on lower-level problems and to increase the local police presence: the introduction of police community support officers (CSOs).

From early in its first administration, New Labour acknowledged that tackling environmental disorder and anti-social behaviour would be central to its ambitious plan for local regeneration. Thus its neighbourhood renewal strategy, intended to ‘narrow the gap’ between deprived areas and the national average (SEU, 2001b), emphasised the need for local monitoring and low-level enforcement in order to ensure local environmental quality and a sense of safety. Separately, but simultaneously, the government initiated a process of police reform. This came to encompass a refocusing on local or ‘neighbourhood’ policing as government and senior police recognised the influence of lesser crimes and disorder on public understandings of crime levels (Millie & Herrington, 2005). The police reform, combined with plans to improve local order and police concerns at the growth of private patrols, led to the creation of CSOs. Introduced to England and Wales by the 2002 Police Reform Act, these uniformed civilian support staff provide a high-visibility local presence, supporting police and enhancing local quality of life. They have two core functions: addressing lower-level crime and disorder, and “providing reassurance to the communities they serve”. However, their powers are very limited and so there are questions over how effective they can be as a deterrent or ‘reassurance’.

This chapter outlines the development, introduction, and character of this policing initiative.