The Community Accreditation Scheme gives pseudo police powers to a whole host of civilians. Back in 2007, the Police Federation of England and Wales made clear their objection to the proposed plan when their Chairman Jan Berry stated:
The Police Federation were opposed to the provision of police style powers to Community Accreditation Schemes from the outset as we believe this is effectively another way of bringing in private policing
Whilst in opposition, Dominic Grieve, then Shadow Home Secretary, now the Attorney General, stated:
The public want to see real police on the streets discharging these responsibilities, not private firms who may use them inappropriately, including unnecessarily snooping on ordinary citizens.
This is a consequence of the government's obsession with policing on the cheap as well as their staggering complacency towards the extension of surveillance.
Why then have the numbers of those enlisted in this dubious scheme and given coercive powers increased by a third since the last election?