Special Constables in Tamworth devoted over 12,000 hours of their spare time to keeping local people safe in 2015.
Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Sue Arnold heard about the volunteer officers’ achievements when she attended the Tamworth Specials annual general meeting on Friday, 26 February.
There are 35 Specials in Tamworth and several worked over 100 ‘duties’ between January and December 2015 with one, Special Sergeant John Tinney, clocking up 1,025 hours. Specials were involved in a wide range of activity including neighbourhood policing, running the Staffordshire Police Cadet Service, football policing and tackling anti-social behaviour. They carried out, or assisted with, 174 arrests, helped transport 374 people to custody and were involved in 48 drug seizures and 76 breath tests.
Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis instigated a new approach to the Special Constabulary in Staffordshire in 2014. It aimed to improve the service even further including longer and more comprehensive training for existing and new Specials, better equipment and more chances to widen the policing activities they are involved with.
Mrs Arnold said: “Special Constables make a massive contribution to society and provide a crucial additional link between the police and local communities.
“I’ve had the privilege of spending time with Specials from Tamworth on several occasions and their commitment to the task is second to none.
“The AGM was a great opportunity to find out more about the important work they’re involved in to keep the people of Tamworth safe.”
The PCC’s approach is aimed at developing the Special Constabulary further and is believed to be the most ambitious in the country, strongly underpinning even better their role in supporting full-time regular police officers in Staffordshire.
Some Specials have also, for the first time, been trained in more specialist roles in wildlife policing, licensing, Integrated Offender Management, roads policing, public order, intelligence and as detectives.
There are currently 286 Specials in Staffordshire. For more details on joining, visit www.StaffsSpecials.org
