South Wales' Chief Constable Peter Vaughan answers questions from Rhondda councillors

THE CHIEF of South Wales Police says he is "not inclined" to increase PCSO powers in case they start to rival fully-fledged constables.
Peter Vaughan started his police career in the Rhondda and was appointed Chief Constable in January.
This week the 47-year-old returned to the valley to address RCT's 75 councillors.
He told them that his force dealt with 445,000 incidents a year, making it the eighth-busiest in the UK. "Last year we policed 186 events, from civic functions like the recent Armed Forces Day, through to the 'friendly' derby matches between Cardiff City and Swansea City," he said.
He added that crime was at a 20-year low on the South Wales Police patch, down to just 110,000 offences annually.
Tylorstown councillor Mark Adams asked if Mr Vaughan had any plans to increase the powers enjoyed by his force's 300 Police Community Support Offices.
"For example, are you considering giving them the power of arrest?" the Labour member asked.
Mr Vaughan said he was "watching with interest" after the Government announced it was planning to standardise the powers of PCSOs across all 48 British forces.
But he added: "I'm not inclined to give them any more powers.
"Many PCSOs want them, but if you keep giving them, eventually they become police constables."
From his perspective, he said, their most important feature was the way they could integrate with their communities.
Fellow Labour councillor Robert Bevan, who also represents Tylorstown and sits on RCT's 10-member cabinet, asked how South Wales Police were planning to deal with a planned reduction in its budget.
"I understand you have already had to make some cuts, and that's not going to go down well with the public," Coun Bevans said.
"I'm just wondering if you've got a strategy to make sure there's some continuity of recruitment.
"The key is, surely, to make sure we don't see people going off at one end but being blocked from coming in at the other."
Mr Vaughan replied: "My commitment is to try to ensure we've got people on the front line, visible in communities.
"We had 200 police officers doing office jobs. My philosophy was, if you've got a warrant card, you should be out there and able to use it, so we replaced those officers with civilian office staff."

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