THere concerns in our force for a number of reasons, chief decided apart from ARV all RPU officers to be taser trained, he is now reducing number of RPU officer posts and instead recruitng 15 RPU specials not only are they taking over from spcialiist and regular officers they are to be traine din issue of Sect 165 notices something the chief will not allow response officer to issue.

Apologies for the long post but I hope to provide a little clarity. I am currently a Special Constable and as a previous poster said the format is different for each force although I understand that there are plans in progress to create greater uniformity throughout England and Wales in regards to Specials structure and especially training.

We had eight or nine Saturdays of training, mostly law and procedure related, e.g. theft, public order, basic traffic offences and lost/found property etc but also including a day on first aid. We finished off with a week to do comms and IT training and three days of Officer Safety Training. After training we have monthly training evening and one or two training weekends each year. Although the quality of the training is excellent it did surprise me as to how little we get compared to regular officers and PCSOs (especially considering the PCSO’s lack of powers). Being assigned a ‘tutor’ after training like the regulars do would have made sense to me.

We have exactly the same uniform and equipment as regular officers and exactly the same powers. PCs, PCSOs and SCs are all identified by a four digit collar number but start with a different number dependent on which of the three groups they fall into so a MOP would not generally be able to tell the difference between a PC and an SC but another officer would. When we finish training we are generally assigned to an NPT although some officers are purely response and I know of one who is permanently attached to an RPU. We don’t have Special ranks (and certainly not a DCC), but we do have grades. We have Section Officers (SOs) who are generally responsible for the Specials attached to an NPT and we have one or two Area Officers (AOs) or each of the three BCUs in our force. Then there is the Commandant, responsible to the Chief Officers for all the Specials in the force. The AOs organise training and staffing of major events, we don’t call them sir/ma’am etc but generally show them some respect. Even if an event is purely staffed by Specials, overseen by an AO there will still be a Regular Sgt or Insp with overall operational responsibility.

After training a special cannot patrol alone until they have been ‘signed off’ for independent patrol by completing a PAC. Until then they must accompany a Special who has been signed off or a PC or PCSO. Generally I would work from my NPT on neighbourhood foot patrols, usually accompanying my Section Officer although I can pick and choose my own tours of duty. I also can approach the Duty Sergeant and request to accompany a response officer, which they generally like because it means that they can attend incidents they have to be ‘double crewed’. Often we will be asked to take part in policing large events or operations, these are known about in advance and it is considered bad practice to volunteer and then not show up for duty. In our NPT the Section Officer liaises with the regular team and works out the priorities for us so we have made a concerted effort to patrol on Friday nights to combat anti-social behaviour. On the last Friday I was out there were five Specials and one PCSO, if no specials volunteered that night, there would be only the PCSO. We have received positive feedback from our neighbourhood who are comforted by the police presence and see groups being moved on and alcohol being confiscated.