Becoming a Special Constable
Be part of something BIGGER!
Thank you to everyone who applied to our most recent Special Constable recruitment campaign. For updates and reminders of the timeline for the recruitment process, please check further down the page.
Please keep checking back on this page for details of future campaigns.
What are Special Constables?
Special constables are volunteer police officers who give their spare time to help the police. This volunteer role gives you the chance to work alongside regular police officers, bring your life skills and experiences and give something back to this beautiful part of the world.
Are you an honest, respectful, selfless and motivated person who wants to do something worthwhile in your spare time? Could you be there in someone’s time of need? Are you prepared to make a difference to people’s lives and protect the most vulnerable in our neighbourhoods?
Express your interest to join
Although we are currently closed for recruitment you are able to express an interest ahead of this campaign. By doing so you will be notified by email when we open for recruitment. For your information we will next be opening midday on the 12th January 2021. To register your interest please click the button below.
What does a Special Constable do?
Volunteering as a special constable is one of the most personally rewarding, challenging and diverse things that you can do in your spare time. Working alongside regular officers and PCSOs, it’s a vital and important role which offers a great sense of pride.
You will be involved in all aspects of policing, enjoying a variety of roles and carrying out duties such as:
- Acting on emergency calls
- Investigating reported crimes
- Apprehending, arresting and interviewing suspects
- Collecting evidence at crime scenes
- Dealing with accidents and incidents
- Supporting victims and protecting the vulnerable
- Engaging with children and young people to help change perceptions of the police
- Working with emergency service colleagues from Ambulance, Fire and Rescue
- Responding to reports of anti-social behaviour
- Being a visible presence at large scale public events
What have our Special's been doing this quarter?
April - June 2021
Number of active officers
Total duty hours this quarter
Number of incidents attended
Number of arrests made
Number of Road Traffic Collisions attended
Number of stop and searches
Hours of speed enforcement activity undertaken
A workforce that reflects our communities
Our ability to build trust, understand problems and support our communities across a range of policing matters, relies on us having a workforce that is reflective of our communities and all the unique individuals that exist within them. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity within our workforce and to eliminating discrimination.
We are very keen to encourage applications from those that have never considered policing as a career. Representation within our workforce from black and minority ethnic communities and females is currently much lower than we want it to be; by improving this we will be better able to serve our local communities and our work place will benefit from all the differences in thinking, points of view, and approaches that diversity brings.
In order to achieve this we are proud to pursue a policy of ‘positive action’.
For further information and to register for this scheme please click the button below.
Our current recruitment timeline
We will be running two awareness events for this campaign which you will soon be able to book onto. These are, Tuesday 13th April and Tuesday 11th May, 6pm - 7pm. To book, please click the links at the top of the page.
Please note that we cannot progress applications for Special Constables and Police Officers simultaneously. Please go to our FAQ’s for more information about this process.
In order to progress to the next stage you must pass the BSQ. At the end of this questionnaire you will be advised of the result and provided with a feedback report. During the forthcoming campaign you will have until Monday 1st June 2021 to complete this stage. If you are successful in passing this stage, you will be invited to complete the second online assessment, the Situational Judgement Test (SJT). Please note you must have completed all the online stages by 23.55 on Tuesday 1st June 2021.
You will be presented with a number of different situations that you may face as a Special Constable with a choice of different actions that might be taken.
You will be asked to identify which action will result in an effective or counterproductive outcome.
You will be provided with a feedback report and if you are successful, you will be invited to complete an application form. Please note you must have completed all the online stages by 23.55 on Tuesday 1st June 2021.
You may receive a notification to advise that your application has been rejected on initial eligibility criteria. If this occurs, we will be in contact with you to ask for further details to determine if it is possible for your application to be progressed.
Please note you must have completed all the online stages by Monday, 1st June 2021, 23.55.
The interviews are scheduled to take place on Saturday, 17th July and Sunday, 18th July 2021. Please note the second date is dependent the number of candidates.
If you are unable to attend the interview date please do not let this deter you from applying. Contact the recruitment team and we will do our best to arrange an alternative date for you.
These will begin week commencing 26th July.
The police Job Related Fitness Test (JRFT) is a critical component of the recruitment and deployment of police officers. The core rationale for the test is to ensure that prospective Special Constables have a minimum level of fitness to be able to undertake personal safety training. The fitness test is benchmarked against the aerobic demands of Personal Safety Training (PST) and comprises of an aerobic shuttle run test (15m Multi Stage Fitness Test – 15m MSFT at level 5:4).
For further information and how to prepare for the fitness test please see the Job Related Fitness Information Guide.
The vetting process is entirely confidential and the outcomes (other than pass/fail) are not shared with anyone else in the organisation (including trainers, future line managers or fellow trainees) or anyone outside of the organisation (including family).
We will carry out security checks on you and your:
- Spouse/Partner
- Father
- Step father/mother’s partner
- Mother
- Stepmother/father’s partner
- Brothers/sisters (full/half/step)
- Children/children of your partner (only those age 10 years and over)
- Any other adult living at your address
- Financial circumstances – applicants will have their financial status checked
These checks are carried out because Special Constables have access to privileged information, which may make them vulnerable to corruption.
Applicants with outstanding County Court Judgements (CCJs) or who have been registered bankrupt with outstanding debts, will be rejected. If you have discharged bankruptcy debts then you will need to provide a Certificate of Satisfaction with your application. At least three years will need to have passed since the date of discharge.
Applicants with cautions/convictions/reprimands, other than some motoring offences, may not be accepted.
References – We send reference requests to all your previous employers in the last 3 years. If you haven’t been employed for 3 years, we will ask for a character reference or an educational reference.
Drugs Testing – As part of the Vetting process you will be required to undergo drugs testing. All drug testing processes are entirely confidential and only the presence of illegal substances will be disclosed to the Force Vetting Unit (by the third party drug testing laboratory). Prescribed medication, including that for individuals with certain disabilities or individuals that may be transitioning, is not tested for in the process. This process generally takes around five weeks to complete.