FIFTEEN new Community Support Officers took their place on the beat this week in West Wiltshire's main towns. The new recruits will deal with crimes at a local level and have a range of powers, including, in time, the power to hand out on the spot fines for minor offences.

Durrand Maule (pictured), 32, from Chippenham will be one of the two CSOs covering Melksham.

He said: "Most of the things I will be dealing with are the minor issues, and anti-social behaviour the quality of life issues that have an impact on people's daily life but are not necessarily a serious threat.

"My job will be to give people advice, to report people, if necessary, to the police, and to just be the eyes and ears of the police because I will be in and around the area that I cover more than the police have time to be.

"The plan in time is that we will end up taking all the minor work off the police, giving them extra time to focus on bigger cases. I suppose you could see us simply as an extra pair of hands."

The 15 CSOs in Wiltshire have just completed four weeks of intensive training.

They have spent time in the classroom, studying the theory of police work, and learning to recognise offences and the way to record them properly.

CSO Maule, who previously worked for the postal service, said: "I have been surprised by the amount of paperwork I have to do, and it's been a while since I had to write a lot of things down, so that has taken some getting used to again!"

As part of their training CSOs have been shadowing officers in the patch in which they will be posted, learning first hand the skills they will be using every day on the beat.

CSO Maule has been stationed at Melksham, learning the ropes from other officers.

He said: "That part of the training has been so useful, because in a way, the 'customers' I'll meet in my job are the same, and I've learnt a lot from watching other people in the job. I think discretion is very important and you have to know how to talk to people and make them feel at ease."

Meanwhile in Trowbridge, CSOs took up their posts a week earlier.

Inspector Jon Tapper of Trowbridge police said they had easily got over the first few days of nerves.

He said: "It is a bit nerve-wracking for them on their first days, but they have been very well received by the public in and around Trowbridge, and I think the public are pleased they are getting this support."

The Police Federation in Wiltshire has criticised the principle of this new tier of policing in the past, saying it could lead to policing on the cheap if other more widely trained officers were lost in future to make way for CSO wages in police budgets.

However, Wiltshire Constabulary has said the funds to pay for CSOs has come from new government sources, so the number of regular officers on the force won't be compromised.