A growing army of private security guards and town hall snoopers with sweeping police-style powers is being quietly established, the Daily Mail can reveal.
Under a Home Office-run scheme, people such as park wardens, dog wardens, car park attendants and shopping centre guards receive the powers if they undergo training, and pay a small fee to their local police force.
Their powers include issuing £60 fines for truancy and dropping litter, and being able to demand a person's name and address on the street.
Under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme, the number of civilians wearing a special badge, and a uniform approved by the local chief constable, has rocketed by almost 30 per cent in a year and there are now 1,406.
Critics claim Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is quietly seeking to create a third-tier within the 'policing family', with even less training and accountability than the controversial Police Community Support Officers.
The civilians are known as Accredited Persons, but they have been nicknamed 'Jacqui Smith's Irregulars'. The only significant difference between them and PCSOs is that they do not have the power to detain a suspect. Instead, they have to summon police.
Councils and other public sector organisations must pay between £300 and £315 to be accredited to the scheme, and between £35 to £90 per employee.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has been accused of creating a 'third tier' within the 'policing family'
In the private sector, the costs are between £450 and £600 per employer, and £32 to £132 per employee. They are then given access to a hotline - to report their intelligence to the police.
Police forces are struggling to find funds to maintain the current level of around 142,000 fully-trained officers, and efforts to recruit more PCSOs - nicknamed 'Blunkett's Bobbies' - have also stalled due to a lack of funds.
In 2005 and 2006, the number of civilians given powers under the scheme was static at 945. But they increased to 1,102 in 2007, before last year's big rise.
Simon Reed, vice chairman of the rank-and-file Police Federation, said the scheme was a 'con' on the public by giving the impression of more law enforcers on the street.
'The public are being hoodwinked if they think the streets are any safer, and they would be shocked if they knew what powers Accredited Persons are being given,' he said.
'It is policing on the cheap. These people are given cursory background checks and minimal training. We are concerned about some of the people who are slipping through the net.'
Phil Booth, of the NO2ID privacy campaign, said: 'This sharp increase in Jacqui Smith's Irregulars makes you wonder what her policing ambitions are.'
A Home Office spokesman said: 'The Police Reform Act 2002 requires a chief officer to be satisfied that an applicant is both suitable and has received adequate training to exercise Community Safety Accreditation Scheme powers.'
Daily Mail
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