Buzzer

Just seen the advert on telly showing the "special" constable who does a few hours a night or whatever. I thought OMG why would anyone want to do that but then i got to thinking that these peeps are probably putting their money where their mouth is and getting off their ***** to do something about the state of today's police force (thats not directed at the PC's out there but the governments lack of direction and funding)

I'm interested if anyone has considered this or are they a special constable already. What drove you to put yourself in all sorts of situations and what sort of pay / benefits (other than getting off with speeding tickets ) you get.

*Sonic*

A mate of mine did it for a number of years, quite a while ago tho, and my sisters mate used to be one (think she is a full time WPC now tho)

they both enjoyed it, cant remember what they gto for it (apart from abuse from the 'real PC's'

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

The message I get when that advert is on is "We, the government will not manage to fund our 'bobby on the beat' targets so can some of you do it for free? - the minimal enforcment capabilities we will allow you will make you feel special"

I'm sure many well respected and responsible people will apply, especially those with an interest in making their local community a nicer place to be - only to find that even if they did catch the little swines that smashes the bus shelter outside the local once a month, the resulting inaction by the CPS / youth courts etc that drags on from months to years will demoralise them, especially when the new wave of little ****s arrive to vandalise said shelter....

After a while the only SC's left will be the power crazed little hitlers not content with running neighbourhood watch you know the ones, retired council office types

When will the government realise that putting more bobbys on the beat will not reduce petty crime, its a total restructure of the CPS and the courts that will do it. Most little ****s commit crime because they know they will get away with it, if the CPS came down hard on petty crime and threw out all the red tape and actually punished guilty offenders then crime would reduce whether there were more constables or not.

IMO

/soapbox

yoza

" Could you do it ?".........." I know I couldnt. "

Your damn right, I wouldnt, couldnt and shouldnt.

Takes a special sort of person, too right it does.

A wannabe traffic warden/wheel clamper type person.

Ask a full time copper what he thinks of 'specials', off the record.

Jerome

I considered becoming a Special a while back but circumstances prevented me pursuing it any further. There is at least one Special here on SN, so hopefully he reads this before this thread disappears. He sent me an email with some very helpful info.

Regular coppers call them "plastics" as in pretend coppers. But, I'm sure they appreciate the fact that there are people out there prepared to volunteer and let the regulars actually get some time off. I was in the TA for 16 years and we (the TA) got some flak from the regulars. However, when they saw us at work, they normally (albeit grudgingly) came around to to respect us. What we lacked in experience, we normally made up for with enthusiasm.

As far as pay, there isn't any the last time I looked, but you do get expenses and a free uniform.

I would recommend contact your local nick and see if you could chat to a serving Special.

OllyK

Join the TA - you get paid for that at the same rate as the equivalent regular rank!

Down side is that most of the unit I used to be with all got shipped out to Iraq! That shook things up a bit as they were supposed to be 3rd line only i.e. never get out of the country, just take over the duties of the regulars in the UK if the regulars got shipped out.

Regular soldiers who have never worked with TA tend to have a similar attitude to them as regular Police do to SC's. However, once they work with the TA they tend to change their tune a bit, I would assume the same would be true to an extent with the Police. Having said that, not sure how much training you get as an SC, with the TA I did:
Series of training weekends to make sure I was fit enough and to learn some basics etc.
Formal Basic Training
B3 vehicle maintence
DROPS operators course
HGV Cat C and C+E
Hazardous Materials course

The last 2 of which are full civillian usable qualifiactions. That was done over about 1 and a half years. We also had training with the unit on the job so to speak and I used to attend every Wednesday night and 3 or 4 weekends a month for excercises and vehicle maintenance sessions etc.

We had to pass the same anual test that the regulars were expected to and to the same standard this included:
Weapon handling and target shooting
First Aid
A number of fitness tests
NBC tests
and a number of others - think there were about 14 or so in all

Big C

I don't think it's appreciated. Another way of looking at it would be to criticise the b@stards that steal any overtime opportunity because they police for F-all.

C

lordharding

iTrader: (1)

I was one a few years ago and it is an experience and lets you see the other side of life

Great fun driving the police cars but you were thrown in at the deep end

one night a month training only i was in a small village station and after a month got my own patrol car along with a 18 year old lad !!

atitudes can vary towards specials untill you get respected and its a good way to get in if you fancy joining the police as you do learn a lot on patrol what the job is really like although its not much fun getting beat up which made me leave it in the end

Boro

iTrader: (1)

I was going to be one but then i found out who my dad was

Mark Miwurdz

Save a few quid next time you're invited to a fancy dress party

Cheers
Kav

RichWalk

What, like TJ Hooker you mean??

MattW

I did it a number of years ago in North Wales (pre Brunstrom ). At the time I was interested in joining up.

The SC is filled with 2 kinds of people, those who wish to join up or those who enjoy it and see it as giving something back to the community. The little hitler types could be either

Rather than just do the odd hour here and there, I actively tried to buddy up with a "real " pc. Ten years ago the pcs would work alone mostly, so the company was appreciated, especially after a few weeks of it when you got to know the guy a lot better.

Lost loads of money playing cards on the night shift

There were some who prefered not to work with an SC, some that would treat you like a schoolkid in nappies until you had proven yourself, and some who would welcome you.

Once I had my first arrest that involved a bit of, erm, "force", and the other pcs knew I would get stuck in, attitudes were much better.

However SC's were fairly new then so I suspect things have changed a lot.

The best bit was the local nightclub would let anyone with a warrant card in without queueing!!!

NACRO

First of all they should change the title-every time I hear

"special constable" it always reminds me of the term "special needs"

^Qwerty^

If you could be a SC in traffic...... that would be of interest.