Special Constables

If you’d rather be helping your community than glued to the TV or PC, here’s where Special Constables apply

In terms of a volunteering opportunity, there’s simply nothing like becoming a special constable (which is what we call our voluntary Police Officers) because it’s a unique way to give something back. You’ll be completely focused on looking after the community, whether business-owners or residents, old or young, and anyone in between. Throughout, you’re considered a vital part of the force.

Our paid PCSOs are a reassuring presence in the region, but you’ll concentrate on doing exactly what a regular police officer does, alongside regular police officers. So you’ll spend half your time on routine patrols, while the rest could involve attending scenes of crime or taking part in specialist operations.

The role allows you to support and look after your own local community, not to mention learn skills and gain experience that could really enhance your career prospects in future. And you’ll be meeting new people every day – either colleagues around the station, or the general public.

You just need to be able to promise us 16 hours a month, which you can divide into four, six or eight hour shifts. Naturally you’ll need the same personal qualities as our regular officers, the most important of which is the desire to give something back to the community. You can be from any walk of life as long as you’re under our upper age limit of 75.

What’s more, we’ve listened to the needs of the community and launched a trial initiative for Officers who want to specialise – using their specific expertise to benefit the community. It means that instead of joining our officers out on the beat, you can opt to specialise instead.

We first recruited rural Officers – volunteers who could draw on their knowledge of farming and the countryside to look after residents and businesses there. Now we’re introducing opportunities for individuals with IT skills, financial management expertise and a working knowledge of the most vulnerable people in our communities. It adds an extra dimension to an already inspiring role. Visit our Specialist Special Constables section to find out more.

And if you’re considering a permanent Police Officer role as well, you can find out about that here.

• Find out more about applying Click here
• Explore the rewards Click here