In this first of a two part feature, PoliceOracle.com’s Cliff Caswell reports on how the a national initiative is preparing volunteer officers to be the reserve of first choice

The implementation of the Special Constabulary National Strategy is continuing to gather pace following the successful roll out of a number of pilot programmes.

New schemes to help bring greater consistency in recruitment and training have been put to the test in Police Services around the country. And despite some teething problems, officers are so far pleased with the outcomes delivered.

“The Special Constabulary is an essential element of policing, and we very much appreciate the 14,500 people who give their time to support their local forces,” DCC Martin Stuart, the outgoing ACPO Lead for Implementation of the Special Constabulary National Strategy, told PoliceOracle.com.

“Our aim now is to further the professionalism of these officers, providing a more corporate approach in areas such as recruitment, training, performance and leadership,” he added. “If we can build on the strong start that we have made, then we are going to have a resource that is more professionally trained to help reduce crime and build an even greater trust with members of the public.”

With the current pressures – particularly financial issues – facing police forces, the debate over the role of the Special Constabulary has recently been taken to another level. As community policing remains high on political agendas, and with the forthcoming 2012 London Olympics looming ever-closer on the horizon, attentions have turned to the volunteers to provide the required boots on the ground.

The current Labour Government plans for the Specials in the coming years are certainly ambitious. In 2008 the then Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced that the constabulary would grow by 6,000, with the hope that there will be 20,000 officers available in time for the arrival of the Olympic torch.

In practical terms, there are several advantages to the Special Constable. As well as providing the high visibility policing demanded by the public, they have the same powers as any warranted officer and are a lower-cost option compared to their salaried counterpart, the Police Community Support Officer.

The National Strategy aims to develop their role further. Focusing on six areas, the document ultimately aims to bring greater consistency to marketing, recruitment, training and development, human resources management, performance management, leadership and deployment and tasking.

At the heart of the blueprint is an aspiration to provide greater opportunities for officers to work with any force to which they are assigned as well as allowing volunteers to transfer into the regular service or the PCSOs if they wish.

Having been endorsed by ACPO in 2006, the strategy is now well advanced, with the recruitment and initial training resources and procedures drawn up by the National Police Improvement Agency being actively used and assessed.

The first initiative – focusing on proposed moves to bring more consistency to the recruitment process – has been trialled by four forces who put would-be Specials through a standard process. It starts with a comprehensive questionnaire and written exercise before progressing on to an interview and judgement test based on a realistic situation that could be encountered on the streets.

According to Brian Woodward, Volunteers Manager at Cheshire Constabulary – which assisted with the pilot project along with the Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and Hampshire forces – the procedures proved easy to implement, had plenty of flexibility and did not have any detrimental effects.

“We were initially concerned with whether we would have sufficient resources to deal with applications,” he told delegates at the National Special Constabulary Conference in East London. “And we also wondered whether candidates would be put off by having to go through an assessment centre style process so similar to regular officers – you could ask why not just apply to be a regular?”

But Woodward said that the backing of representatives from the National Police Improvement Agency had helped allay any fears. “The NPIA trained our assessors and built a very good relationship with our team,” he said.

“The candidates found the written exercise challenging, but it is meant to be,” he added. “In the end we had a pass rate of 78 per cent, so our fears that we would not get enough people were unjustified. We would endorse the process.”

Read the second part of the feature at http://www.policeoracle.com/