These officers are truly Special

On The Beat, by King's Lynn Police Commander Dave Buckley

Welcome to final blog of this year. I have decided this month to talk about the Special Constabulary as I thought this would be fitting as I was at the Attestation Ceremony on Sunday, December 1, for the 10 new members of the Special Constabulary.

The role of Special Constable is not a new thing as it has been around since 1831, when Parliament passed an act allowing the formation of Special Constables outside the times of unrest.

During World War One the Special Constabulary was redefined into the organisation which exists today.

The only difference between a regular officer and a Special Constabulary is the fact a regular officer is paid to police whereas the Special Constable is an unpaid volunteer that carries out policing duties.

On Sunday, I found myself at Lynn Town Hall with the Deputy Chief Constable Paul Sanford and the Chief Officer of the Special Constabulary Darren Taylor.

We were there to witness 10 people take their attestation to become members of the Special Constabulary in front of a Norfolk Magistrate.

Once the person has completed the Attestation, they are then granted the full powers of a Police Officer and are able to help patrol the streets of West Norfolk supporting regular officers in their day to day duties.

These 10 volunteers had completed 10 weekends of training that was held at Lynn during which they were taught various legislative facts and were then tested on their knowledge in exams and practical assessment scenarios.

All 10 came through with flying colours and were attested into the Constabulary as members of the Special Constabulary.

These 10 officers will now work with mentor regular officers for the next few months, so that they cement their newly gained knowledge into practical policing and go on to help supporting their regular colleagues in keeping Norfolk a safe place to live and work.

In the first 15 days of December these volunteers have contributed some 240 hours learning how to police the area of West Norfolk.

Due to the success of the local recruitment and training of officers for the Special Constabulary, we are going to run another intake in 2020.

We will be out and about in the local area during January advertising our next recruitment event which we hope to hold in February.

At the recruitment event in February potential new recruits to the Special Constabulary will complete the written tests, fitness tests and interview and will be informed on the day whether they are successful in being accepted on to the next training course.

If the person is successful they will be invited to join our training course which we hope to start in April.

If you are interested in joining the Special Constabulary and would like to know when the recruitment event is taking place then please get in touch with my Community Engagement Officer PC Lee Anderton via his email, which is Lee.Anderton@norfolk.pnn.police.uk and ask him to send you the Specials Application Form.

PC Lee Anderton will also be able to answer any questions you have on becoming a Special Constable.