Meet the frontline officers as we spend a day in the life of a Flintshire PCSO

The Leader was recently invited to spend the morning with one of Mold’s PCSO officers and learn about what goes on within their typical day-to-day duties.

I arrived at Mold Police Station at 9am and was greeted by PCSO Peter Jones, an officer who has been serving with the force for three years after completing a training course in St Asaph, and who I joined as he carried out a normal day of routine duties.

First up for the day was a visit to the Daniel Owen Centre, just a short walk from the police building on King Street, to gather some CCTV evidence for a crime committed earlier in the month.

One the way, we discussed what inspired the 22-year-old from Conwy to start a career with the police.

He said: “I was inspired at school to take on a career that meant I could help others. Policing seemed to be a natural fit for being that figure in the community that people come to for help. I enjoy the feeling you get from helping people and I am proud to be a PCSO, it is literally in the title that the community is our priority when we protect and serve.

“I had done some volunteer work prior to joining as a steward and that joy of helping people really grew from there to where I am now.”

He also told me about how he could not choose just one stand-out moment to define his policing career, as there were many times he felt that his work had amde a difference.

He said: "I remember one incident where we had reports of a frequent drink driver and it was going to be difficult to apprehend him unless we could catch them in the act. Gathering intelligence through my role gave us a better understanding and a chance to pin down where and most importantly when they would be drinking.

"Without that, we may not have had a decent chance to stop them and take them off the road, no doubt saving lives. The praise from the superintendent about my work on that case was good to hear as well as it shows what we do as PCSO's is valuable and recognised by our colleagues."

After the CCTV pick-up, we went to speak with parents of youngsters that were involved in causing damage to a building in Mold.

Rather than going down the criminalisation route, PCSO Jones informed me that officers now tend to hand out ‘yellow cards’ which are meant to act as a deterrent and do not show up on future criminal record or CRB checks.

After this, I was taken to an address in Broughton where a lady had called numerous times about damage being done to her fence.

On the drive, we discussed what the role of a PCSO meant and Peter said that it is not exactly as the job description reads – in a good way – as Peter says without a doubt that no two days are the same.

He said: “The job is not what I expected it to be, in a good way, as you’re getting involved with all kinds of different jobs from one day to the next. The variety is something I really enjoy, one day you could be responding to routine calls and the next you could be helping out during a warrant. I think I would get too bored in a typical 9-5 job.

“It would be impossible for the police to give you a full list of what you can expect to do in the role as it would be pages and pages long.”

Upon arrival, PCSO Jones sat down and discussed the situation with the elderly resident and addressed her immediate concerns. We were taken to another room where she had CCTV cameras installed to monitor the front garden – but this wasn’t much that could be taken from this due to weather conditions and darkness of the night making the picture quality rather poor.

PCSO Jones made sure that the lady had relevant support from neighbours, family and friends and passed out his details so that she could contact him directly with any concerns she had in the future.

We attended a few more incidents in Buckley, including a lady that was left distressed after an incident with a neighbour left her and a friend with damaged cars as well as a family that were having a nightmare with their neighbours dog causing chaos in their garden.

What was clear with these incidents as I was allowed to sit in and observe PCSO Jones at work as his calming manner and how much work goes into protecting the communities they serve.

Back at the station, I had a final chat with PCSO Jones to discuss his career and what he would say to anyone considering a career with the police.

He said: “I would whole-heartedly recommend policing as a career to anyone considering it. The best part of my job is that you never stop learning and that we are able to inspire people as I was inspired when I was a kid. Being able to make a difference, no matter how big or small, as making a difference is something you cannot buy.”