Talk:Wandsworth Parks and Events Police

Status

Status - there is some dispute over the legal status of officers of this constabulary which this article does not reflect. This is not a Home Office force, (i.e the Met, Sussex Police etc etc) nor a special police force (such as BTP or MOD Police). It is arguable that they are not 'police officers' in the true meaning of the word, i.e. they do not come under the remit of being a constable in PACE. At best it is a VERY grey area and I a have found a report from a government committee calling very much into question the idea that they have full police powers. I shall edit the article accordingly after giving due time to further discussion on this page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.74.97.211 (talk) 07:14, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

Please sign comments! It helps us all to communicate better. Ta. Concerning what you say above, it is indeed a grey area. We must be very careful, however, to avoid original research, personal opinion, or point of view. I would be quite happy to see a paragraph added about the question of the status of officers in WPP, AS LONG as suitable references were cited. The official website of the WPP makes it quite clear that they consider themselves to be a police force. Their uniforms bear the word "POLICE" across the breast as with Home Office forces, and their vehicles are marked with "POLICE" markings. Someone recently edited this article to change "Police Sergeant" to "Sergeant", which I have reverted, because the only reliable sources currently cited state "Police Sergeant". There is nothing wrong with introducing an alternative view, as long as that alternative view is reliably referenced, as opposed to being someone's opinion, view, or best guess. (PS: However, on the subject of personal opinion, and strictly for the talk page only, I used to live in Wandsworth and can personally vouch for the WPP as being the most reliable, efficient and well-run police force I have ever encountered!) Timothy Titus ^{Talk To TT} 08:39, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

I have to agree with the anon editor. I also have to point out that as a serving police officer in the Met I can point to the law and legislation that gives me my powers and jurisdiction, which is a requirement under the Human Rights Act by the way. Just because the 'official' website of the WPP states they have consider themselves a police force does not mean that they are correct. I have researched for some time in a professional capacity to try and find legislation that allows these officers to have any more powers than Joe Public apart from enforcing bye laws in their parks. There doesn't appear to be any such legislation. Also there is some debate across London regarding borough constabularies using the word 'POLICE' on vehicles and uniforms. Many boroughs have dropped the word. Please see this report regarding Newham where the legal opinion is these constabularies are not police officers (http://apps.newham.gov.uk/docs/asbrsum.pdf) and do not have police powers (apart from the limitied bye law aspect) and should not be carrying offensive weapons (such as batons) which police officers are permitted to carry. As it is a grey area the deletion of 'Police Sergeant' to 'sergeant' is probably fair. In a Home office or special police force (such as BTP) you must pass nationally accredited exams and other interviews etc before being promoted. The sergeants in this constabulary have not and it is debatable that they are police officers in the first place. I would be interested for anyone to point me in the direction of legislation that gives memmbers of this constabulary any more powers than a citizen when not enforcing parks bye laws. (PS: Just my personal view of course, and in response to Timothy Titus, it is extremely easy to be perceived as a reliable, efficient, well-run 'police force' when you only cover parks, can rely on the Met to deal with any serious incident and do not have to deal with burglaries, domestics, terrorism, firearms incidents, assisting other agencies, traffic, major events etc etc etc. The WPP and Home Office/Special Police forces are just not comparable!) Dibble999 (talk) 12:19, 7 May 2008 (UTC)