Southend: Specials "takeover" policing city, to keep you safe

Volunteer police officers led a “takeover” in Southend, tackling a variety of incidents, making a difference, and keeping you safe.

On Saturday night (4 May), our volunteer police officers gave up their time to “takeover” policing duties in our newest city allowing our regular officers some time to focus on their current workloads and investigations.

In supporting our regular police officers, as part of #OneTeamSouthend, they really do make a difference to the policing of Southend, making it safer for everyone.

In a fantastic effort, the Special Constabulary team led the policing response in a very busy Southend, contributing additional hours of high visibility patrols, using their training and skills to great effect. But it’s not just their policing skills used, it’s the skills they bring from their “other life” to benefit the community they serve.

They dealt with a variety of incidents throughout their tour of duty including dealing with four disturbances, 3 domestic abuse incidents, a theft whilst checking on the welfare of a person.

The team worked together to arrest two people – one on suspicion of criminal damage and one on suspicion of cruelty to a child and being drunk and disorderly.

Furthermore, in an effort to keep our roads safe for everyone, they issued two traffic offence reports for no MOT and not wearing a seatbelt – both could have serious repercussions should they be involved in a collision.

But the team also showed their compassion and support to man seen walking in the middle of a road with no shoes on. Through their conversation with him, they learnt he was homeless, so drove him to St Vincent’s Centre where he received hot food and shoes: a charity that the team hold dear and routinely support by raising much needed funds. Going forward, they also booked a consultation with a local charity to assist him in finding a safe space to sleep in future.

Superintendent Leigh Norris, Operations Lead for South Local Policing Area, said:

"I’m very proud of our Specials, and this is just another example of their excellent work in which they support their regular colleagues. They’re professional and dedicated to tackling the issues that matter most to our communities whilst safeguarding vulnerable people. At short notice, they often help us deal with response and neighbourhood policing and various other matters. In addition, they also provide invaluable help to our policing teams and communities.
"I’d encourage anyone who has skills in their “other life” that they could use as a volunteer police officer, to keep Southend or any other area in Essex, safe, to join us."

Special Constables are volunteer Police Officers. They have the same police powers, uniforms and equipment as regular Police Officers but sacrifice their free time on a voluntary basis, organising their busy personal lives, day jobs and other commitments around police duties. 

Want to know more? Take a look at our Special Constabulary page.