ABSTRACT
The use of civilian employees in assisting the police has been an ongoing process for many years. One of the most common and long-standing examples of this trend is the performance of administrative and general office duties by civilian staff. As time has progressed, they have become involved in more specialised and direct support roles within the police service, such as Scenes of Crime Officers (SOCOs). However, the Police Reform Act 2002 has made very significant changes to the police service as a whole, some of which have already been discussed earlier in this book. The part of the 2002 Act that will be the focus of this chapter is Pt 4, Chapter 1 and Scheds 4 and 5, for it is these parts of the Act that created the concept of the ‘extended police family’.
