Become part of our Special force

What do you do in your spare time?

Are you a fan of police drama?

Do you want to see policing from the other side?

In real life?

Do you want to help people, keep them safe and catch criminals?

 

So many questions but we’ve got the answers. If you want a taste of policing but don’t want to become a regular (paid) police officer and you have some spare time, you could become a special constable.

 

We’ve launched a new recruitment campaign today to attract very special people to become very special volunteer police officers.

If your application to join Essex Police Special Constabulary is accepted then you will be valued, supported and integrated into our wider policing family.

You’ll be asked to donate at least 16 hours of your valuable spare time to help to keep our communities safe, policing with fairness and impartiality.

In return, you’ll have the same powers as a regular police officer and you’ll learn new skills, experience new things and make a difference to the lives of people who live, work and socialise in Essex.

You may be responding to incidents alongside officers in our local policing teams or you may be more suited to public engagement with a community policing team.

We also have Specials working across a number of specialist areas, including our teams in our Serious Crime Directorate, at Stansted Airport and in our Dog Section.

Or you may want to deliver visible policing at a really local level, in which case you could become a Community Special Constable, making a difference in your own town or village.

It’s a fantastic volunteering opportunity with plenty of progression and development prospects.

But don’t take our word for it. Hear what some of our Specials have to say about their volunteering.

Becka, 23, has been a Special for a year and did her training while also studying for a degree in Sociology.

She says there are so many benefits to being a Special:
“You gain a huge amount of experience in dealing with all kinds of situations, it can be anything from dealing with a drink driver to a theft.
“I love being able to help people and leave knowing that I have made a huge difference to others. I couldn’t be prouder to be a Special Constable, it’s a volunteering experience that you wouldn’t get anywhere else.
“I used to look at police officers driving on blue lights in their cars and think ‘I’d love to do that’. Until I realised I could.”

Community Special Constable Spike, 56, retired from the Metropolitan Police in 2016 after serving 30 years as a police officer but volunteered to join Essex Police Special Constabulary four years later.

He lives in a rural area and says he had seen the local policing presence reduced over several years and wanted to do something to help.

Spike says:
“I decided that I still had experience and skills to offer and I could still make a difference. To put it in other words, I could ‘put up or shut up’.  I wasn’t after another policing career but could offer reassurance and visibility to the community where I live.
“You really get to know your community. My public love it and so do I.”

Tom, 39, is a Special at Stansted Airport and is also studying for a degree in Policing and Criminology. He says he loves talking to people, understanding their problems and helping to resolve them, in both the short- and the long-term.

He says: 
“Being a Special is not all about racing around on blue lights chasing cars, it’s about making a difference and helping those who can’t always help themselves.
“Talking to people through different situations such as domestic incidents, fraud and animal cruelty, are the kind of jobs that make me proud to be a Special Constable.”

 

So, if you share our values and want to protect and serve our communities, why not join us?

We value difference, so if you think you fit the bill and want to become part of our policing family, visit our Special Constabulary pages to find out how.