Volunteers' Week: A snapshot of what they do for you

We’ve been focusing on the vital role volunteers play in helping us to help people, keep them safe and catch criminals.

They do this all year round but Volunteers’ Week gives us the opportunity to thank them for the many hours of their spare time they donate to protecting and serving our county.

And it was a busy week.

From Active Citizens to Volunteer Police Cadets, with our Specials and Police Support Volunteers, many of them were out in their communities as usual.

We attended VOLFEST 2023 in Chelmsford to highlight the opportunities we have available for people who want to support their communities.

People expressed interest in becoming Police Support Volunteers and special constables while others signed up for our Watch schemes. These see people with a similar interest sharing information between themselves and with the police to help to reduce crime.

Jeff Appleby, our Citizens in Policing training and development officer, says the force is grateful for the support volunteers provide to our police officers and staff who work with them. He says:

“We try to make volunteering a rewarding experience, so they can support their communities and their policing colleagues and obtain experience and career development.
“Every volunteer has their own journey and their own story to tell about why they volunteer and what rewards it provides for them.
“I am proud of the work they do for Essex Police and I feel privileged to be able to work alongside these fantastic people every day.”

Active Citizens were at Rochford Market during the week, giving out crime prevention advice and discussing local matters with residents and shoppers.

We have 300 Specials who donated more than 119,000 hours of their spare time between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023 to helping to keep Essex safe.

And during National Specials Weekend, 2-4 June, we benefited from a further 893 hours as our volunteer officers were out on patrol across Essex, attending 161 incidents across and assisting in 15 arrests.

They led an operation targeting criminals using the roads network in the Lakeside and Grays area and kept an eye out for motorists committing Fatal Four offences – speeding, drink or drug driving, using a mobile phone while driving and not wearing a seatbelt.

At Stansted Airport, they focused on road safety, also setting up a vehicle checkpoint, following concerns that some drivers are leaving the airport are under the influence of drink or drugs.

While in Southend, they worked with Southend City Council staff and a Safer Essex Roads Partnership (SERP) safety officer, focusing on specific locations well-known because of the number of collisions and speeding complaints identified.

We also celebrated five years of our ground-breaking Community Special Constable scheme, which launched in Witham in 2018.

Under the scheme, town and parish councils fund the expenses of Community Specials who are dedicated to policing their local area and can respond directly to community concerns.

We also welcomed members of Essex Chambers of Commerce to HQ in Chelmsford to gain an insight into the training our Specials receive. Through our Employer Supported Policing scheme, 68 organisations across our county allow their employees paid, allocated days or hours, per month or per year, out of their job to volunteer as a special constable.

And our volunteer police cadets, who are aged 13 to 18, also got in on the act. They undertake various activities within their communities – in Colchester they supported the police station’s annual open day.

Could you volunteer to help your community?

If you want to protect your community, catch criminals, and serve the people of Essex, we have various opportunities for you. Just click on the links to find out more and how to apply:

• Active Citizens and Police Support Volunteers
• Special Constables
• Volunteer Police Cadets
• Essex Watch schemes
• Restorative justice & mediation volunteers, independent custody volunteers and dog welfare volunteers