Sussex police have apologised after a video circulating on social media appeared to show a community support officer declining to intervene in an alleged assault.

The filmed altercation near a Co-op branch in the village of Lancing is said to have come after a teenage shoplifter allegedly assaulted a female customer.

Footage shot from a car’s dashcam shows a man pulling up alongside a police car and trying to persuade the police community support officer (PCSO) to intervene. The officer tells the man that he is “not a response unit, unfortunately”, to which the man responds: “I know you’re not, but the sight of the car will make them scatter.”

“Yeah, but then I have to deal with it,” says the officer.

Accused of cowardice, the officer adds: “You have your opinion, I have mine.”

In a statement, Sussex police said it was aware of the footage and that a police officer had been sent to the incident as an emergency.

“The PCSO also then attended the scene,” it said. “The investigation into a report of assault and shoplifting is [the] subject of a live investigation, and the victim has been contacted by officers.”

The West Sussex local policing Supt Nick Dias said that keeping the public “safe and feeling safe is paramount” to the force and that its officers and PCSOs “work hard to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour, often in challenging circumstances”.

“We are sorry for the clumsy language used by the PCSO in this exchange and acknowledge the public’s concern,” he said. “Our response to this incident is being reviewed.”

According to the College of Policing, the role of a PCSO is to act as a “key liaison point between local communities and policing” and, among other things, to “support the successful resolution, prevention and deterrent of local crime”.

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Under law, PCSOs do not have powers of arrest, but are allowed to detain a person whom they believe has committed an offence but fails to provide a name and address, for up to 30 minutes until the arrival of a police officer.

They may also use “reasonable force to prevent a detained person making off”.

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