“It’s not all blue lights and pub fights.”
Main article content
The reality of being a Special Constable
FORCEWIDE
You’re wanting to become a Special Constable alongside your career vocation, whether that be as a teacher, working for the NHS, a bus driver, bank manager, wind turbine technician, stay at home parent, business owner, manager or student, the list goes on.
You want to give back to the community you live and work in, after all, you just want to make it a safer and stronger place to be.
You take the plunge, put yourself out there, and start applying, but then you find out that you must commit to fifteen weeks of training on evenings and weekends.
But there’s a reason for this, and it’s extremely important for those joining our Special Constabulary to receive the same level of training as our regular officers, not only for the safety of the public, but for your own safety too.
As a Special Constable you will have the same powers and responsibilities as our regular officers, attending the same jobs, and dealing with the same people who are often at their most vulnerable.
We’ve been listening to the Specials who have recently been through the training and have since been one of the first forces to adopt a more hybrid-training model.
This model of learning means we can be far more flexible in our approach and ensure that those who are passionate about serving and volunteering their own time to give back to our communities are given the opportunity and support along the way to do just that.
We caught up with Sergeant David Selby who delivers this training to find out more.
He said: “Our fifteen weeks training is equivalent to a Level 4 qualification and consists of online training on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, as well as weekend consolidation sessions to put everything you’ve been learning into practice.
“You’ll also be given a workbook to do in your own time, as well as access to blended learning on our College of Policing platform which has a variety of educational pieces and toolkits to help build your knowledge of policing. It’s accessible for all, with a mixture of video content, scenarios, role play, readings, and signposting to resources to allow you to undertake your own research. We like to think that regardless of how you like to learn, there’s something for everyone and more importantly, you’ll always be putting it into practice during the in-person training sessions on a weekend.
“During this training you’ll be learning absolutely everything you need to know to excel as a Special Constable from the Theft Act and assaults, to Body Worn Video, conducting stop and searches, writing statements, Officer Safety Training, negotiating and communication, First Aid, learning police systems such as radios, mobile phones, Niche and the Police National Computer database, Golden Hour Principles, and more! There’s a lot of methodology around it, but then we combine this with scenario-based training and role play, as well as getting you out there into the thick of it with a tutor to collect a portfolio of experience to sign you off as a Special Constable at the end.
“The soft skills needed to be able to communicate effectively with all different kinds of people, from all different walks of life is crucial, and this isn’t always something you can teach. We can help you put it into practice though, and there’s a lot of support in place to help you get to where you need to be before you’re deployed.
“There’s a lot more symmetry with the training delivered to regular officers due to the fact you have the same powers and responsibilities, so it’ll be a very different level of volunteering than a lot of people may be used to.
“We do find a lot of people who want to become a Special Constable already spend a lot of their free time volunteering and giving back to their communities in different ways. But this is volunteering on a whole other scale.
“You can expect the unexpected and no amount of training can prepare you for what you might face out there, but this level of training is necessary to protect you, as well as the public. It’s 15 weeks of hard work and dedication, and you must know what you’re signing up for to succeed.
“We’re looking for people with a good soul, who are compassionate and have an intrinsic ability to communicate effective with people. Strong people skills are the key to success because you need to be able to de-escalate situations without necessarily utilising those arrest powers you’ll have.
“Being a Special Constable is not all blue lights and pub fights, it’s much more community-led policing where you’ll be sitting under our neighbourhood policing teams alongside the police community support officers (PCSOs).
“Your focus will be building rapport within the local communities, delivering Humber Talking, community resolutions, problem-solving and really listening to the concerns of the communities to proactively do something about it.
“Members of the public must trust in competent policing, so if the level of training didn’t match this then we wouldn’t be serving our communities properly.
“We want people of all ages, all different kinds of backgrounds, with real life experience and transferable skills that’ll really help you succeed in this kind of role.
“You’ll see the best of people; you’ll see the worst. You’ll see the darkest corners of society, but you’ll also find the light and see people coming together as heroes, as protectors, and as a community.
“The way you engage with and talk to people will be their view of policing for the rest of their lives, so your attitude and how you empathise with people is everything. If you’re someone who wants to learn and embrace everything in an honest, open, and earnest way, then becoming a Special Constable is the role for you.”
Special Constables have a duty to work a minimum of 16 hours a month, many doing more for one simple reason – they’re passionate about policing and serving their local community.
Joining us in this role also means you can receive a significant discount in your local council tax as well as benefits of Blue Light discounts on thousands of stores, restaurants, holidays and more.
Our Special Constabulary recruitment window reopens on Wednesday 3 June, but in the meantime head to our dedicated Specials page to find out more and hear from some of our serving Specials: Volunteer with us - Join the Specials | Humberside Police