The Norfolk Constabulary Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS) allows our Chief Constable to accredit staff of other organisations, such as council street wardens, shopping centre security staff and sports stadia personnel with powers to tackle and thereby reduce anti-social behaviour, graffiti, litter and abandoned cars in our county.

This helps and supports the organisations which have a commitment to community safety by making their accredited staff even more effective.

Section 40 of the Police Reform Act 2002 provides authority to establish and maintain Community Safety Accreditation Schemes (CSAS) in order to contribute to community safety and security and combat crime and disorder, public nuisance and other forms of anti-social behaviour.

CSAS are seen as an integral part of the Government’s Neighbourhood Policing Strategy, which explicitly recognises their importance in “forging links, improving communication and delivering effective policing to neighbourhoods”.

The schemes also provide an opportunity to improve the quality, consistency and transparency of the “mixed economy” of private and public sector community patrols that now exist.

In Norfolk, the Chief Constable authorised such a scheme to be established in 2008 and to date (September 2009) four organisations and approximately 60 people have become accredited.

Before accreditation status is awarded, the people concerned will be vetted and interviewed by the Norfolk Constabulary. All employees seeking accreditation and their supervisors will need to complete an approved training programme culminating in an exam. The scheme is aimed at public, private and the voluntary sectors, who contribute in providing a safer community.

Accredited staff will only be awarded powers that are appropriate to the roles they carry out and they will be properly badged and uniformed and carry I.D. cards that identify them, their role and the powers they have.

 

Uniform
An accredited person exercising their powers under the Scheme must produce their written designation if they are requested to do so. In Norfolk, this is a credit-card sized identification card which bears their photograph, confirmation of their Accredited Person status and an exhaustive list of the powers that they have been granted.

The Accredited person must also be wearing a badge as specified by the Secretary of State and a uniform that has been determined or approved by the Chief Constable. The badge will replicate the CSAS logo.