The Blunkett bobbies in uniform who sloped off duty to a visit a brothel in Soho are sacked

Four police community support officers have been booted out of Scotland Yard after they secretly visited a Soho brothel while on duty, the Daily Mail can reveal.

The quartet abandoned their positions guarding potential terrorist targets in the sensitive ‘government security zone’ in central London.

Then, wearing uniform, they met up at a vice den located five doors from a Metropolitan Police ‘community safety office’ and, according to sources, asked after an Eastern European ‘model’ who plied her trade there.

Neighbours: The brothel is only a few doors from the Metropolitan Police 'community safety office'

When informed she was not available, they drank tea with a brothel madam in the reception area. Their astonishing visit was discovered by chance by a police sergeant on patrol nearby.

He is believed to have seen the PCSOs walk into the brothel at about 2am and, suspicious about their motives, followed them inside a few minutes later.

The PCSOs, aged in their 20s and 30s, were challenged by the sergeant about why they were not on their designated beats before a major investigation was ordered by furious Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson.

It is believed that at least two of the officers claimed they had no idea they were in a brothel and that they were doing ‘community work’.

But earlier this month, three of them were sacked for gross misconduct after a disciplinary hearing.

'Plastic police': Community Support Officers on patrol

The fourth officer resigned in disgrace soon after the incident on October 18.

According to Police Federation sources, investigators seized CCTV footage which suggested some of the disgraced PCSOs had previously visited the sex den.

The case is the latest in a string of controversies and embarrassing incidents involving PCSOs, dubbed Blunkett’s Bobbies after the Labour Home Secretary who created them.

Last year figures showed that one in seven police community support officers, introduced in 2002 to increase the uniformed police presence on the streets, has been investigated for misconduct.

More than 2,000 PCSOs have been accused of wrongdoing, with 160 charged with criminal offences since the role was created, statistics released under Freedom of Information laws revealed.

The civilian officers, also dubbed the ‘Plastic Police’, have been criticised for lacking the powers properly to protect the public or solve crime.

Crucially, they do not have the power of arrest, although they can hand out fines for a range of minor crimes, including littering and parking offences.

Yesterday they were at the centre of another row after three community support officers supervised a tearaway teenager on a fishing trip in Hertfordshire.

The publicly funded visit, which was photographed by a passer-by, caused a storm as the local constabulary is preparing to make £36million of cuts and close six police stations.

Last night Scotland Yard issued a statement confirming that four PCSOs had been caught in a brothel while on duty.

It added: ‘We can confirm that on Tuesday, April 12, following a Met gross misconduct hearing, three male PCSOs aged 23, 28 and 38 based at Belgravia were dismissed for failing to comply with an order and behaviour likely to bring the service into disrepute. A 31-year-old male PCSO, who was based at Belgravia, resigned in autumn 2010.

Yesterday's Daily Mail story about PCSOs

‘All four were on duty at the time of an incident in Peter Street, Soho, W1, on October 18, 2010.’

Insiders said the PCSOs were clothed and not engaged in any sexual activities when caught.

A Police Federation source added: ‘It is simply astonishing that at a time of heightened fears over terrorism, these individuals should neglect their duties to visit a brothel.

‘You have to wonder about the IQ of officers who, with no good reason, visit a sex den in uniform.

‘Nevertheless, the Commissioner and his senior officers should be commended for taking robust action to remove them.’

Last month a PCSO was jailed for nine months after he laundered tens of thousands of pounds from a brothel run by his prostitute wife.

Sean Griffin, 44, a police community support officer with the Met, was arrested after cops found wife Debbie, 44, with four ‘clients’ at his flat in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.

The couple raked in £176,000 – including £116,000 in profits – from the prostitution racket and used the cash to pay off their mortgage.

Griffin was jailed for nine months at Cambridge Crown Court after admitting money laundering. He denied a charge of running a brothel and this will lie on file.

27th April 2011