Devon & Cornwall Police have recently accredited members of the Falmouth Plus (FX Plus) Campus Security team with some police powers through the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS).
The scheme, which has been running across Devon and Cornwall since 2005, has given nine security officers some enforcement powers, for use at Falmouth and Penryn Campuses and university halls of residences. Under CSAS those so trained can deal with low level anti-social behaviour. Police say that the powers have been targeted to the university’s needs. Such as; being able to request the name and address of anyone acting in an anti-social manner, to confiscate alcohol from anyone under the age of 18 and tobacco from anyone under 16. It is an offence not to comply with CSAS-accredited staff.
In the south Cornish town, Falmouth Town Council are also accredited with limited police powers through CSAS; as are Cornwall Council.
Sector Inspector Martin Roberts, from Devon & Cornwall Police said: “We are extremely pleased to have been able to accredit officers with CSAS powers within Falmouth University. We have already undertaken much work with the university to reduce anti-social behaviour and the scheme will now allow us to build closer links and help provide a safe community for students to live and study in. Allowing organisations to have CSAS powers also allows us to extend our policing family – they are not a replacement for our local teams but complement them.”
Becki Brodest-Nott, CSAS Manager for the force added: “There are a number of benefits of the scheme including reassurance to members of the community that training and vetting is completed by accredited persons. It also allows better communication and improved relationships between the police and partner agencies to tackle anti-social behaviour and other low-level crime and disorder, which impacts significantly upon communities across Devon and Cornwall.
“The accreditation of limited, but targeted powers, allows accredited persons to be more effective in the role they already undertake, but more importantly assists with ensuring safer communities for all to live, work and visit.”
Rob Greensmith, Head of Security for FX Plus said: “We are looking forward to the closer working relationship with local police through this accreditation and are pleased that our highly trained security officers now have additional powers to further ensure the safety and security of campus users at both Penryn and Falmouth campuses.”
More about CSAS schemes operating across Devon and Cornwall at www.dc.police.uk/csas.
