AN army of street wardens has been drafted in to help police parts of the region.

Dressed in a similar uniform to conventional police officers, and given a basic salary of £14,000 a year, the new Community Support Officers will be tackling anti-social behaviour, vandalism and petty crime.

They will allow police to deal with incidents of a more criminal nature.

Ten have already begun working alongside beat officers in Herefordshire - and soon CSOs could become a regular sight on the streets of Worcestershire.

West Mercia Constabulary has welcomed the new arrivals.

Chief Insp Shane Hancock, from Hereford police, said the CSOs will play a major role being the force's eyes and ears in the community.

"They will complement the beat managers, provide greater reassurance to the community and resolve quality of life issues, freeing up uniformed police officers to deal with more serious crime," he said.

"They will also complement vital work being undertaken through Herefordshire Community Safety Partnership."

The new-style street wardens are funded by the Home Office, so the money will not come out of the police budget.

The 10 new CSOs in Herefordshire have already begun working alongside their beat officers where they learnt about local issues, met key community representatives and familiarised themselves with their areas.

They will soon be carrying out patrols in the community single-handedly and working alongside uniformed police officers in shift patterns that are designed to complement policing activity and increase visibility.

But at present the CSOs do not have any actual powers, other than the normal citizens' powers of arrest.

Although the Government had made certain powers available to CSOs such as fixed penalty fines, Hereford police have not yet delegated these powers.

Chief Insp Hancock said: "We made a decision that we were not to give them the powers because we are going to carry out a review for three months. It is more than likely that we will give them powers such as implementing fixed penalty fines."

CASE STUDY

Alison Dore is one of the first Community Support Officers in the West Mercia Constabulary.

She has been out patrolling her patch in Ledbury on her own for just over a week and she says the response from the public has been remarkable.

"It is an important job, although it is fairly low key, but people really appreciate what you are doing.

"Especially older residents and families," said 48-year-old Alison. "They have been very receptive."

This is not the first taste of law and order for Alison as she previously worked for Malvern Police as a front desk clerk for four years but she had a desire to get out from behind the desk.

"I enjoyed it but I wanted to be a bit more hands on and make some changes in my own small way. It was a good move.

"I was delighted when I got the job. There were quite a few applicants so I was honoured."

Alison, who is from New Zealand but moved to England 24 years ago, said getting to know the community takes time but as she spends 90 per cent of her working day out on patrol she is quickly making herself known.