CW has been on a "campaign mission" over the past few weeks - fearing fro the future of established road race events and sportives - given the "punitive costs of policing".
We do.. errr .. um ..

.. ho ... hum..

.. errrrrrr!
OK -
More Serious mode now..
We do charge the organisers for services rendered - usually at cost price and with the tax payer meeting a share of this cost too. It would be unfair to expect the community to foot an entire cost after all. We do receive income for services rendered at football/rugby/cricket and other sports matches - not the whole cost .. but the clubs/organisers do contribute towards this cost . In the latter case.. it comes out of the sponsorship income... which is what this income is supposed to help cover in any case

Yes.... we do send out PCSOs .. but in Durham .. we either pair with a regular or a "special"
Advertising MODE ON...
(and "Specials do a sterling job.

If you intend to become a policeman or always "had a dream/ No
calling vocation to be a police officer - then applying to be a "special" might just be right for you! We Need
YOU SPECIALS 
Trained up to same standards as regulars for most routine jobs.. and a serious help.. Many apply to be regulars as they find it really is their calling in life too :wink;)
ADVERTISING MODE OFF
But my advert aside .. we should be using the resource of "Plastics" appropriately.. with value to and for them and the public we are supposed to be "serving and protecting"
We thus try to pair them with either a regular or a special as much as possible .. especially on such duties as "providing a police marshalling and protection at a public "pleasant do"
If these officers made the decision per all the reports (and there's enough evidence to suggest these reports are accurate

) ... then I would say they acted beyond their "instruction" and should really have consulted with their immediate superiors and the race marshalls to establish the correct call. It may well be that the race would have been halted and then re-started within the rules and laid down rubrics. We have stopped events in the past on grounds of safety after all for a half hour or more - depedent on the problem.
Maybe the PCSOs made a correct call ... but their problem does lie in their "authority" and unless a senior officer . usually CC down to Chief Super in "pp" under his own remit for/on behalf of his superiors" can authorise their authority to act on responsible and common sense judgement of situation within certain common sense boundaries.
I would hope for the sake of the "plastics concerned" that this was the case./.. that they had been awarded this particular power. It is up to the CC and his "steering committee of seniors" to make such decisions and we always hope we simply
get it right :bunker;