POLICING has grown increasingly complex over the past few years.

The straightforward bobby on the beat has been replaced with a plethora of policing cousins – community wardens, special constables and police community support officers.

In many cases these extra members of the policing family have helped build community relations.

They have also been successful in tackling many of the low level nuisance problems experienced by communities.

But in the very act of applying for more powers, the fundamental weakness of community wardens has been exposed.

Currently they can dish out fixed penalty notices for littering, but they are powerless to stop people riding their bikes on pavements.

They can force you to give your name and address if your dog makes a mess in the park, but they can do little to stop someone behaving anti-socially in other ways.

At the moment the system seems to rely on people’s goodwill, which is fine for quickly ticking off generally law- abiding citizens.

But it falls down for the more hardened elements.

Only time will tell how successful these extra powers will be and whether they will alienate the people they are meant to help.