Met's new high profile

Kelly Birch can be forgiven for looking a little sheepish as she goes about her job as a police community support officer.

Who wouldn't feel self-conscious, stood two feet above the pavement on a metal podium bearing the logo "Community Safety Vantage Platform"?

Certainly shoppers and tourists have been left bemused by the latest Met initiative, which aims to use the support officers to provide a reassuringly visible police presence.

The scheme in Kensington and Chelsea has the officers stationed on podiums literally to make them more visible.

Police community support officers (PCSOs), who can detain suspects but not arrest them, were launched last year to support police officers. Ms Birch, 25, and her colleagues - 28 across the borough - do two five-hour shifts on the platforms each week.

The sports science graduate said: "People do laugh. I get people asking if I have failed the height requirement for the police. They want to know what I am doing but when I tell them they say it is a good idea."

Ms Birch said her vantage point in Kensington High Street has already allowed her to observe a disturbance in a fast-food restaurant, which she sorted out before conventional officers arrived. "I think we are helping to deter crime," she added.

Brian Hayman, spokesman for Kensington and Chelsea police, said: "We want them to be seen. The platforms are intended to give people reassurance and to raise the police profile in crowded areas."

A Kensington and Chelsea council spokesman said the PCSOs had had a "real and visible impact" and added: "We are willing to try any initiatives that reduce anti- social behaviour on our streets. Let us try the platform initiative and see if it has the desired effect."

Dubbed Blunkett's Bouncers, the officers are trained civilians who patrol the streets on which the public complain they rarely see beat officers. The Met wants to increase police numbers in London from 28,000 to 35,000 - at least 1,000 will be PCSOs.

Rank-and-file officers have been unable to resist a sly dig at their colleagues - they have nicknamed the platforms "posh podiums".

And Glen Smyth, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said he was concerned that PCSOs did not get enough training.

But he continued: "They have released police officers from mundane patrolling to do more exacting tasks. We know people feel reassured when they see a uniformed presence."

Some members of the public also reacted with scepticism. French tourist Lucile Papais, 26, visiting Kensington High Street, said: "They seem really funny. Wouldn't people be able to see them better if they were walking up and down the street?"