KENDAL'S first community support officer started pounding the streets this week to provide a vital link between the communities of Kendal and the police.

Although not a regular police officer, and without the powers of arrest, CSO Stephanie Holmes will play an "essential" role as the "eyes and ears" of the police in Kendal while offering high visibility reassurance to the public.

CSO Holmes will be deployed across the town, particularly in areas where there are problems of anti-social behaviour and low-level disorder, to gather intelligence and provide the public who may be apprehensive about approaching a police officer, with an immediate point of contact.

Sergeant Andy Bell told the Gazette that CSO Holmes would become a familiar face in the town over the coming weeks as she started reaching into communities and helping them tackle the blight of criminal activity.

"CSO Holmes is not a police officer but she is an important link to the community and, by gaining their trust, will be able to provide regular officers with information and intelligence to help us do our job," he said.

"At first she will patrol the town centre area, and then she will be deployed in the estates when problems arise."

SCO Holmes will shadow Kendal town centre beat bobby PC Michelle Tomlinson for the next few weeks in an attempt to boost her profile in the town.

The graduate, who has had a deep interest in the police, said she was relishing the chance to "get her teeth into" the challenge of her role.

"I'm looking forward to getting out and about and working with the public," she said.

And her mentor, PC Tomlinson, hit back at widespread media criticism over the role of community support officers, which has been described by some as "policing on the cheap".

"CSOs are far from policing on the cheap they will be vital to our work by providing frontline policing because police officers simply cannot be everywhere," she said.

CSO Holmes's role will be far reaching with responsibilities and tasks ranging from dealing with truants, graffiti and missing persons inquiries to assisting officers with house-to-house inquiries, helping with crowd control at major events and acting as a professional witness in bringing criminals before the court.

(Steve Barber photo D5B058SB1)