Warwickshire Police

The Home Office carried out studies of how the police service can improve the level of service currently offered to the public, these studies revealed that more visual police presence was required.

Introduced in December 2002 Warwickshire Police were one of the first forces to employ Police Community Support Officers or PCSOs. This new police presence was required to perform high visibility patrols within designated communal areas. Their roles is to act as the "Eyes and Ears" of the community, to tackle anti-social behaviour, gather intelligence, dealing with quality of life issues and providing public re-assurance to promote area improvements.

The initial PCSO were based at Stratford, Leamington, Coleshill, Rugby, Nuneaton, Atherstone and Bedworth they quickly became an integral part of the police family.

Warwickshire was one of the first forces to have PCSOs designated to Motorway Service Areas with them being allocated to Corley on the M6 and Barn Hill on the M40

Recently introduced in 2008-2009 are Safer Schools PCSOs who are allocated to designated Secondary Schools throughout the County and also 5 Anti Social Behaviour PCSOs allocated to each District/Borough.

In 2009 PCSO numbers had increased to 149.