It is one of Scotland's smaller police forces but is leading one of the most radical reforms of the service. From April 1, Central Scotland will be piloting the use of civilian investigators.

As the force launches Operation Ironworks, which aims to crack down on antisocial behaviour in some of Scotland's most scenic areas around Loch Lomond, new civilian staff are being geared up to start investigating crimes such as vandalism and fire-raising around the more urban area of Falkirk.

In 2007, police in Falkirk recorded some 7226 group three and four crimes such as housebreaking and fireraising. In the next 12 months at least half of these crimes will be handled by the new Priority Crime Unit.

Turning certain police roles into civilian ones is not a new concept in the UK. A report on the Metropolitan Police in 1952 made a range of proposals on "civilianisation".

Administrative, forensic and support roles have already been handed over to non-police staff. The question forces have asked increasingly over the past two decades is whether a specific role actually requires the police power of arrest.

However, there are limits. Last year when David Mulhern, chief executive of the newly formed Scottish Police Services Authority, called for a whole range of new roles to be handed to civilian staff there was strong opposition to the move.

He recommended that ministers introduce Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), whose growing use in England and Wales has sharply divided opinion.

Paddy Tomkins, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, warned that turning over too many police roles to civilians could turn the service into a "gendarmerie".

Mr Tomkins criticised proposals to introduce PCSOs or "plastic plods" as they are sometimes known in England and Wales but agreed that certain additional roles such as the citation of court witnesses and execution of certain warrants could be taken out of the police's hands.

Police community support officers were introduced to England and Wales in 2002 and do not have the power of arrest but can detain suspects for 30 minutes.

Scottish forces have thus far rejected the idea of PCSOs but this will be the first time civilian staff have been leading investigative work in this way.

"This is just one part of a new approach and we are looking at other areas where we could civilianise posts including prisoner custody," says Andrew Cameron, chief constable of Central Scotland. "We have produced a business case which will show that the savings are very compelling. It is part of a wider modernisation programme. We need to get more police officers in communities.

"There are many other areas where we need to be more radical in terms of civilianisation. An inordinate number of police officers are involved in custody management, roster managing and report checking. We have identified that we want to civilianise these posts and get people back on the streets. If we are going to address the issues of reassurance policing and address antisocial behaviour, we have to find different ways of doing things.

"By introducing new and innovative forms of policing we are actually allowing our officers to go back to basics."

One concern is that the very members of the public that the forces are trying to reassure with greater numbers of frontline officers, will be uneasy about having a non-police officer coming to the door to interview them.

"We have run focus groups in Falkirk and found that is not the case as long as they get a decent service and the person is interested and part of the police then they don't have a view on what that person should be,"says Superintendent Gavin Buist who has been leading the project.

"Although it seems quite radical to appoint civilian investigators, the fact is that none of us joined as experienced investigators, but with experience and guidance we became good at it. I suspect the same thing will happen with assistant investigators but that the process will be faster because they are so focused on one area."