page_title: Police community support officer
section_title: Germany
hierarchical_section_title: Police community support officer / Similar programmes in other countries / Germany
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Stadt Fulda - Ordnungsamt, Land Rover Freelander
context_page_description: A police community support officer, or as written in legislation community support officer is a uniformed member of police staff in England and Wales, a role created by Section 38 of the Police Reform Act 2002, which was given Royal Assent by Queen Elizabeth II on 24 July 2002. They are non-warranted but provided with a variety of police powers and the power of a Constable in various instances by the forty-three territorial police forces in England and Wales and the British Transport Police.
  PCSOs were introduced in September 2002 and first recruited by the Metropolitan Police. The first ever PCSO on the streets of the UK was Barry Faust who left Belgravia Police Station, London at 6am on 7 September 2002 to deliver a car to an east London garage to be fixed. His shift left the station at 7am.
  Proposals for PCSOs in Northern Ireland were prevented by a budget shortfall in the Police Service of Northern Ireland, as well as fears that the introduction of uniformed and unarmed PCSOs in Northern Ireland would mean they would potentially then become a "legitimate target" in the eyes of the IRA who have attacked other civilians working for the police in Northern Ireland in the past.
context_section_description: In Germany several agencies provide similar services like the PCSO: 
  Auxiliary police
  some states established auxiliary police units as Voluntary Police Force (Freiwilliger Polizeidienst), Security Watch (Sicherheitswacht) or Security Partner (Sicherheitspartner). These services are intended to maintain or establish public security and order throughout their assigned territories.
  City police forces
  (Stadtpolizei, Kommunalpolizei or Polizeibehörde) exist in few states like Bremen, Saarland, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse. Those municipal police officers do have the same rights, powers and obligations like their counterparts in the state police, but are employed by German municipalities.
  Municipal order enforcement agencies
  depending on state laws and municipal regulations, they are named Kommunaler Ordnungsdienst (KOD) or Ordnungsamt. These city employees mainly wear police-like uniforms but some wear labelled jackets and plain clothes. They are the municipal administration's eyes and ears on the street. Depending on each state's laws, these local employees could be armed or unarmed. Mostly they are charged with monitoring municipal by-laws and laws that fall under the responsibility of municipalities, which include monitoring the conduct of shop owners, sanitation inspections, veterinary inspections and minor infractions and misdemeanors such as illegal parking, littering, state and local dog regulations etc. They usually only hand out warnings and fines and can only perform a citizen's arrest as any other citizen can. If they see any major crimes they are required to call the state police. They usually hand out warnings and fines. Like British PCSOs, they have special powers of detention and can perform arrests.
caption: Patrol car of the Ordnungsamt of the city of Fulda
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