Some Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in Cheshire have been issuing fixed penalty notices without the contractual authority to do so due to issues with their employment contracts.
A recent review undertaken by the Constabulary, following issues identified at other forces, found that omissions in the employment contracts of a number of PCSOs meant that they were not contractually empowered to issue certain types of parking tickets. These contracts were issued during two periods – prior to 2006 and then after 2010.
Records for fixed penalty notices go back to 1st January 2007 and Cheshire Police estimate that some 1,600 tickets were issued by PCSOs without the contractual authority to do so.
It should be noted that this relates solely to non-endorsable Police Fixed Penalty Notices for parking offences, and not to those tickets issued by local authority staff.
Once Cheshire Constabulary identified the issue, all PCSOs were instructed to cease issuing fixed penalty notices. The terms of the affected PCSOs have now been brought in line so that all are now able to exercise the appropriate powers, and this power has now been reinstated.
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Roberts said: "No PCSO acted knowingly beyond their powers in issuing parking tickets to motorists, nor did the organisation knowingly permit PCSOs to issue tickets in the absence of an ability to do so. Indeed, appropriate and extensive training was delivered to all PCSOs to provide them with the knowledge and training to issue these tickets correctly.
"We have thoroughly reviewed our position. Following legal advice, we do not propose to reimburse those individuals who may have been given a fixed penalty notice by a PCSO without the contractual power. By paying the fine, motorists have admitted their liability for the parking violation; and administratively, the force cannot confidently identify those who may have paid the parking ticket.
"Whilst we are confident that all fixed penalty notices were issued in good faith, the Constabulary wishes to apologise for the uncertainty this has generated."
John Dwyer, Cheshire's Police & Crime Commissioner, said "I'm very disappointed that this mistake has been made.
"Having learned of this issue, and being mindful that other forces have had issues with some employment contracts, the Chief Constable has reviewed all of the contracts of our PCSOs and ceased issuing tickets while this review was undertaken.
"I have now been fully briefed on the results of the review. It is clear that previous chief constables wished PCSOs to have the power, but that an administrative error meant that this wasn't implemented. This pre-dates both myself and the current Chief Constable. While I remain unhappy that this issue has arisen, the Constabulary has acted to ensure all PCSO employment contracts now contain the necessary powers.
"PCSOs, who do fantastic work in our communities, were acting in good faith and were properly trained. This was an organisational issue for the Constabulary which I am confident they have resolved."
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