Special constables

haha 🙂 Jim, I must confess that it hadn’t quite crossed my mind, been too focused on the assessment!!! 😀

EGTC………………..

There is one good side to being a Copper Ashley, the uniform certainly pulls the birds. Hope you are fit enough 😀 Let us know if you get on O.K.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

Thanks very much 🙂 Fingers crossed 🙂

If you have more stories to tell, please do share them as I found the previous lot very interesting as to what kind of things you had to deal with. 🙂

Good luck with your assessment then 😉

I was going to carry on relating my experiences when this thread was fresh but I must admit I got sidetracked a bit… I’ve just gone back through it all as you did, and maybe I need to do something about my past experiences as there were many (too many perhaps) for inclusion just on here 🙂

I had a look through this topic again for inspiration 🙂 It sounds like an amazing position 🙂
My assessment is next Saturday and i’m feeling quite nervous but excited. Regardless of the outcome I just want to thank Lincoln 7 for his advice recently 🙂

If anyone else has any stories to share please do so 🙂

Nashio. Ben, Targets are nothing new.:eek: When I was a probationer in 1966, we had a chart to fill out, (All probationers did), we had to put down how many we had arrested for whatever offences,at the end of each month, (Where would we be even now without the good old standby Domestic disputes, Fridays and Sats?.) We were even told by the Sgts, who incidently wielded more power than an Inspector those days, to falsify our submissions, just so we met the Chief Supers targets.thereby protecting the Sgts and Senior Officers from getting a Bo****ng, for failing to meet targets.

Jim.

Lincoln .7

Good chap, you’ll be joining Thames Valley Police (my force) Will you be looking for a milton keynes posting? Drop me an email when you get in 😉 Although you wont be talking to my control room 🙁

Thankyou kindly 🙂 Yes I will be looking for either MK or Bletchley.
I’m currently sorting out my references as I believe the closing date for application is friday 30th sept.
I really hope I do get in and I will certainly drop you a message if that is the case 🙂

“The problem is with this is that it doesnt generate “Statistics” which is what the government wants. Policing is run like a business these days, It shouldnt be.”

I don’t really agree with much of what you said before that sentence. But with that I totally agree. A policeman should have only two priorities and they are to maintain law and order and to seek and apprehend criminals. And they should be seen to be so doing. From that everything else will flow into place.

Successive governments have sought to erode the police’s primary role and make it increasingly difficult to carry out its basic responsibilities.

If Im honest I would put a big block of it down to people being promised the world by other organisations on behalf of the police, people who then blame the police when those expectations arent met.

Parents who call the police because their 14/15 year old kids are arguing, parents reporting their children missing, when they know fullwell where their children are and just cant be bothered to go and get them. People calling 999 at 2am in the morning saying that they’re lost and have no money asking for a lift home.

Not only that, The police do an impossible job, every which way you look at it. theres nothing easy about it at all.
A lot of people complain because they dont see police officers out on foot patrol, visible policing. The problem is with this is that it doesnt generate “Statistics” which is what the government wants. Policing is run like a business these days, It shouldnt be.

When I started my job, I was astounded at the things that people call 999 for – it makes the people off Jeremy Kyle look nice.

Good point, Nashio, so you have to ask yourself why the police, in general, have lost so much respect and are held in such low esteem across the board.

unfortuantely dave, different police forces deal with this in a totally different manner. Whats worse is that the general public brand “The Police” as all the same thing where in reality, its not, different police forces do things totally differently.

From what I see, we go out of our way to accomodate the general public. My colleagues and I certainly do 🙂

Only just noticed this topic and read some peoples accounts of their experiences as a Special Constable.
I’ve wanted to become a police officer for about a year or so now but with all the cuts I guess there won’t be an intake any time soon.
I noticed that there is a current intake for special constables though and after reading the accounts here I think i’m gonna apply 🙂

Good chap, you’ll be joining Thames Valley Police (my force) Will you be looking for a milton keynes posting? Drop me an email when you get in 😉 Although you wont be talking to my control room 🙁

Where I live, it doesn’t matter whether it’s fully trained plod, specials or PCSO’s, they have all been equally useless when I wanted them. They seem to avoid dealing with real criminals and hassling everyone else and are very ‘selective’ about who they deal with. They have never done me ay good whatsoever. MY other half used to be very pro-plod, but since moving to the area and my ex causing problems, she would not help one if they needed it.

Only just noticed this topic and read some peoples accounts of their experiences as a Special Constable.
I’ve wanted to become a police officer for about a year or so now but with all the cuts I guess there won’t be an intake any time soon.
I noticed that there is a current intake for special constables though and after reading the accounts here I think i’m gonna apply 🙂

Hi.
I was Special with the Grimsby Contabulary for eight years in the sixties and enjoyed every minute of it. Felt a few collars in my time and didn’t get bruised once!

Ken

OUTSTANDING young man, a job to be proud of.;)
Jim.

Lincoln .7

Ah – and in the sixties the relationship between public and police, Special or otherwise, was quite different.

Special Constables

Hi.
I was Special with the Grimsby Contabulary for eight years in the sixties and enjoyed every minute of it. Felt a few collars in my time and didn’t get bruised once!

Ken

Potential for publication I would have thought. And I think it would be the first.:)

Thankyou to those that thought my reply summed up the role differences as observed from experience… 😮

Thought I would add to it by sharing some of the experiences, all of which are somewhat historical by now and not likely to be incriminating to anyone anyway:

1) First time sitting in a patrol car on a shout under “Blues and Twos” (blue lights and two tone sirens for those not familiar with terminology), and my mind racing as we sped along a very busy urban high street heading towards a running suspect – me thinking this was surreal and somewhat like a live episode of “The Bill” (which all Police watched of course…lol). Couldn’t believe I was involved in it all and doing it as a volunteer / hobby 😮

2) Nearing the end of a long and rather quiet full night shift paired up with a regular in our trusty Maestro patrol car, and getting a call to attend a sudden death. All dealt with accordingly, seeing a dead body as if it was a normal occurence. Then only a couple of hours later being at my paid job and enjoying the normal break snack of a bacon butty chatting to my colleagues about my experiences as if nothing unusual had happened to me. Their faces were a picture as they scoffed their butties listening to that one 😀

3) Becoming a Section Officer within the Specials (promotion even in volunteer roles) and having to fully organise special operations as advised by the unit’s Inspector – no regulars with us, just a team of my volunteer colleagues. Usually involved targeting kerb crawlers on our patch, and dealing with all the paperwork such as nice letters to their home address warning them of their activities (wish I had been a fly-on-the-wall when spouses saw the mail) 😉

4) Chasing a suspect on foot after leaping from patrol car, through woods and streams etc. Calling in Air Support and basically acting as the eyes on the ground via radio link as half the West Mids forces descended on the area following up my frantic calls giving location etc – jeeze they were letting me do this as “Special” 😀

5) Feeling part of what was a great team as I was attached to one unit, and worked their shifts around my paid job – if they were on nights, so was I, etc etc. I really did some long hours, far in excess of the minimm requirement, and was regarded as ‘one of them’ but only after I put in the hours and showed what I could do….. That gave me a great deal of satisfaction and motivated me a lot!

It did help that I was ex-forces, as I suspect I had the right mentality and common sense approach etc. I obeyed orders (which had been a big part of my previous forces life and something I personally missed in civvy life up until then). I’m not looking back with rose-tinted specs, it really was a great job to do as long as you, the individual wanted to put something into it. Those that didn’t just dropped off eventually. I made some good friends too – the team spirit was very strong, and I suspect still is – including PCSO’s I might add.

All the comments comparing the two roles lead back to one important thing – if you really want to do something that CAN be worthwhile, and are willing to go the extra mile, then it pays dividends, or in the case of PCSO’s – a wage. My views on the frustrating powers of normal PCSO’s are relevant, as there is a disparity across the country with different forces, as pointed out in another comment already. The general public will however only see each role in general terms. Most will appreciate that Specials are more empowered nationally, and that PCSO’s are not. Getting across at the scene that a particular force’s PCSO has actually got more power is always going to be difficult – and really doesn’t help their overall image? The government really needs to sort that disparity out if they wish to continue down this path. The distinction between Specials and PCSO’s is also going to be a difficult one to get right if more and more appear on the street, if the public are going to understand what that approaching high-viz wearing “Police” person is going to be able to do – I can see the confusion myself already.

Apologies for the ramble – there’s so much more about my experiences I could write about – some quite sad, some rather more humourous – such is the huge variety of the work of course 🙂

Like I said earlier, Specials do the job for”Love” not the money they don’t but should get, even as a small bonus once a year as a “Thank you”.

Jim.

Lincoln .7

Like Hunter I am an ex-Special – I did 3 and a half years at an inner city police station. We luckily had an excellent set up so the “muppets” were weeded out at the selection stage – which was quite rigorous. In fact the force I worked for were exceptional in that the training was first class and we were integrated fully into the day to day operations. I think a few years prior to my joining (in the 90s)the Chief Constable removed the large badges identifying us as specials so that we would be more integrated into the force.

We had exactly the same powers as regular officers (if I remember correctly the only power we didn’t have was the power of arrest in other force areas). As to doing a front-line job on the cheap – a quick google will show you that the Specials have been around for many many years and are seen as a valuable resource. It’s not just a quick cheap fix.

Whilst I was a Special I dealt with everything from attempted murders to violent disorder, assault, dogs on roofs and all things in between. I have been attacked whilst trying to deal with domestic violence incidents (the most common crime we dealt with) and among other things have had to help pull people out of car accidents. I’ve also seen a lot of things I don’t want to see again which has given me a lot of respect for regular officers. A few people mocked me as I was doing it unpaid (I only got travel expenses to and from duty) but I always saw it as putting something back into the community I lived in. By and large the officers were worked with were generally glad of the support.

It would be interesting to swap tales of serving your community with the keyboard warriors who feel that people who do this are a bunch of busy bodies and are “muppets”…