Policing Volunteers
There have always been volunteers helping to keep law and order and today they are to be found in several organisations. Policing volunteers, or ‘Citizens in Policing’ as they are known, have roles ranging from attending incidents to typing up reports to maintaining vehicles.
Special Constables, or ‘the Specials’, work a minimum of 16 hours a month and can claim certain expenses. They receive the same training as regular constables, for which they must be fit enough, wear the same uniform and have the same powers. Citizens are ineligible if they are in another uniformed service or in a related occupation, e.g. a soldier, bailiff or private detective. The motivation to volunteer for frontline duty includes community spirit and desire to learn new people skills.
Police Support Volunteers, established in 1992, help with administration, such as manning the front desks in police stations, doing clerical tasks or role-playing for training purposes. Neighbourhood Watch and Home Watch (1982) have over 170,000 communities liaising with their local police. Residents can receive weekly summaries of locations of car thefts and house burglaries, as well as Trading Standards bulletins and news of successful criminal prosecutions. Crimestoppers (1988), run with the help of 500 volunteers, accepts anonymous tip-offs from the public.
(Image of Specials on patrol: West Midlands Police at Flickr.com / CC BY-SA 2.0)