Police and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire, Matthew Ellis, is calling for more volunteers to play an active role in keeping their community safe as part of National Volunteers Week.
Volunteers play an important role in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent and help to scrutinise Staffordshire Police, inspect custody and lead cadet units amongst many other roles.
Volunteers for the Ethics, Transparency and Audit panel (ETAP) examine policing in Staffordshire at every level, including examining the response of police to incidents and analysing the way they handle complaints about policing. The panel has received national recognition for its scrutiny of the police use of Taser, stop and search and crime recording in Staffordshire.
Following the success of ETAP, Safer Neighbourhood Panels were launched in 2015 with local residents volunteering their time to meet with local councillors and the local policing commander. The panel influence local policing and community safety, scrutinise the work done by police in the area, give feedback to their community and examine the impact of community resolutions and restorative justice where they live.
Other vital work undertaken by volunteers is unannounced visits to custody suites by Independent Custody Visitors (ICVs) to check on the wellbeing of people being held in custody. Their visits provide an independent check on people being detained by the police and the way police officers carry out their duties with regard to detainees.
Another way you can get involved is as a volunteer cadet leader who run cadet units across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. They make a difference in young people’s lives by helping cadets gain confidence, a sense of purpose and responsibility and new skills, while developing leadership, confidence and communication skills of their own.
Mr Ellis said: ‘Volunteers play a huge part in society and local communities and I would like to thank all of them for their hard work and dedication. Their work has gone a long way towards making Staffordshire Police the most open and transparent service in the country.
‘I would love to see more people get involved in volunteering and we have many opportunities available to help us improve policing in Staffordshire.
‘Public confidence in policing is a priority and the extra layers of scrutiny from Safer Neighbourhood Panels, ETAP and ICVs ensures transparency at the most local level. It promotes public confidence in the system, which is essential to making Staffordshire safer.’
You can find out more about volunteering opportunities with the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire on the website: https://www.staffordshire-pcc.gov.uk/volunteer/
