A critical evaluation of current and future roles of police community support officers and neighbourhood wardens within the Metropolitan Police Service and London boroughs: utilising ‘low-cost high-value’ support services in a period of financial austerity

The article considers problems surrounding the delivery of visible policing in London, particularly in relation to the continuing challenge for police managers of delivering neighbourhood policing in the capital. It assesses the value of police community support officers (PCSOs) in terms of delivery of neighbourhood policing against a background of high abstraction rates. It also considers the changing role and purpose of the community support officer function within many police forces. It evaluates the potential benefits of an expansion of community wardens who might provide a ‘high-value low-cost’ option to what can be, aside from the enforcement role, a ‘high-cost low-value’ policing alternative.