Special Constabulary
Encyclopedia
The Special Constabulary is the part-time volunteer section of a statutory
Statute
A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. The word is often used to distinguish law made by legislative bodies from case law, decided by courts, and regulations...

 police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

 force in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 or some Crown dependencies
Crown dependency
The Crown Dependencies are British possessions of the Crown, as opposed to overseas territories of the United Kingdom. They comprise the Channel Island Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey in the English Channel, and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea....

. Its officers are known as Special Constables (all hold the office of Constable
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...

 no matter what their rank) or informally as Specials.

Every United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 territorial police force
Territorial police force
The phrase Territorial Police Force varies in precise meaning according to the country to which it is related, generally distinguishing a force whose area of responsibility is defined by sub-national boundaries from others which deal with the entire country or a restricted range of...

 has a special constabulary except the Police Service of Northern Ireland
Police Service of Northern Ireland
The Police Service of Northern Ireland is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary which, in turn, was the successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary in Northern Ireland....

, which has a Reserve constituted on different grounds. However, the Royal Ulster Constabulary
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...

 (and previously the Royal Irish Constabulary
Royal Irish Constabulary
The armed Royal Irish Constabulary was Ireland's major police force for most of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. A separate civic police force, the unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police controlled the capital, and the cities of Derry and Belfast, originally with their own police...

) did have its own Ulster Special Constabulary
Ulster Special Constabulary
The Ulster Special Constabulary was a reserve police force in Northern Ireland. It was set up in October 1920, shortly before the founding of Northern Ireland. It was an armed corps, organised partially on military lines and called out in times of emergency, such as war or insurgency...

 from 1920 until 1970, when the Reserve was formed. The British Transport Police
British Transport Police
The British Transport Police is a special police force that polices those railways and light-rail systems in Great Britain for which it has entered into an agreement to provide such services...

 (a "special police force") also has a special constabulary. In the Crown dependencies, the Isle of Man Constabulary
Isle of Man Constabulary
The Isle of Man Constabulary is the organisation responsible for policing the Isle of Man, an island of 80,000 inhabitants situated equidistant from Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England.-Structures and Deployment:...

 and the States of Guernsey Police Service
States of Guernsey Police Service
The States of Guernsey Police Service is the local police force for the Crown dependency of Guernsey. In addition to providing police for the island of Guernsey itself, the Guernsey Police also provides detachments for the islands of Alderney, Herm and Sark...

 also have special constabularies, but the States of Jersey Police
States of Jersey Police
The States of Jersey Police is the professional police service of Jersey. It was established in its current form by the Police Force Law, 1974 and consists of around 240 officers....

 does not.

The strength of the special constabulary as of 31 March 2010 in England and Wales was 15,505. Special Constables are not the same as Police Community Support Officer
Police community support officer
A police community support officer , or community support officer is a uniformed non-warranted officer employed by a territorial police force or the British Transport Police in England and Wales. Police community support officers were introduced in September 2002 by the Police Reform Act 2002...

s (PCSOs), who are employed by police forces to provide operational support to regular officers. Special Constables usually work for a minimum of 16/25 hours per month (depending on the force - the national minimum is 16 hours), although many do considerably more. Special Constables might receive some expenses and allowances from the police service, including a £1,000 "recognition award" in Scotland and some forces in England, but their work is otherwise voluntary and unpaid.

Special Constables have identical powers to their regular (full-time) colleagues and work alongside regular police officers, but most Special Constabularies in England and Wales have their own organisational structure and grading system, which varies from force to force. Special Constabularies are headed by a Commandant or Chief Officer, who are themselves Special Constables. Within Scotland, a number of forces in England and Wales, and the British Transport Police, Special Constables have no separate administrative structure and no grading system.

History

While the idea of a populace policing itself dates back to Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...

 times, with English Common Law requiring that all citizens have the legal obligation to come to the assistance of a police officer, it was not until 1673, when Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

 ruled that citizens may be temporarily sworn in as constables during times of public disorder. This ruling was in response to rising public disorder relating to enforcement of religious conformity, and any citizen refusing to acknowledge the call would have been subject to fines and jail sentences. The 1673 act was enforced for centuries after, mainly used to call up constables in the north of England.

Public disorder of that nature was renewed during the industrial revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries, which was coupled with falling living standards and starvation. In 1819, mass meetings calling for Parliamentary reform took place across England, including 60,000 demonstrators rioting in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 where a special constable was killed. In light of these events, in 1820, an act was passed allowing magistrates to recruit men as special constables.

In 1831, Parliament passed "An act for amending the laws relative to the appointment of Special Constables, and for the better preservation of the Police". This act, forming the basis of special constable principles to the modern day, and in particular allowed the formation of special constables outside of times of unrest, if the regular police force was deemed to be too small in a particular area. Specials were also granted full powers of arrest like their regular counterparts at this time, as well as weapons and equipment to carry out their duty.

A further act in 1835 redefined the Special Constabulary as a volunteer organisation, and expanded its jurisdiction. The Constabulary was redefined for the last time into the organisation which exists today during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, where they were instructed to safeguard water supplies from German infiltrators.

During the Second World War, besides their normal duties such as subduing drunken brawls and arresting boys who stole apples, they were trained to deal with a range of eventualities such as first aid
First aid
First aid is the provision of initial care for an illness or injury. It is usually performed by non-expert, but trained personnel to a sick or injured person until definitive medical treatment can be accessed. Certain self-limiting illnesses or minor injuries may not require further medical care...

 in case of injury, initial coordination of the security of aircraft crash sites, clearing people from the vicinity of unexploded bombs, handling of unignited incendiary bombs and checking compliance with lighting regulations.

Application

Requirements for being a special constable varying from force to force. It can take from as few as six to as many as eighteen months from initial application through to attestation
Attestation
Attestation may refer to:* Attestation clause, verification of a document* Various police oaths in the United Kingdom...

 where recruits take the Police Oath
Police Oath
It is usual for Police officers take an oath to uphold the law. The following is a selection from different countries.- Hong Kong :English version according to Chapter 232, schedule 1, Laws of Hong KongI, .. ....

. Applicants must pass a security check (which is generally the longest process, as the checks have to be sent away to be completed), followed by a written Police Initial Recruitment Test (PIRT; identical to that taken by regulars), an interview normally held with two or three current officers and/or civilian staff, and a medical assessment. Some forces now require a fitness test, which may or may not be as strict as that given to regulars.

Uniform and insignia

Special Constables generally wear identical uniforms to their regular colleagues.
In some constabularies, their shoulder number may be prefixed with a certain digit or they may have additional insignia on their epaulette
Epaulette
Epaulette is a type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of rank by armed forces and other organizations.Epaulettes are fastened to the shoulder by a shoulder strap or "passant", a small strap parallel to the shoulder seam, and the button near the collar, or by laces on the...

s which is usually a crown with the letters SC above or below it (although some forces just use the letters). Formerly, male special constables in English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 forces did not wear helmets while on foot patrol but wore patrol caps instead, but in most forces they now do wear helmets. Some forces also issue special constables with a different hat badge from that of their regular counterparts although this is now extremely rare.

Within the City of London Special Constabulary is the Honourable Artillery Company Specials; members of this unit wear HAC on the shoulders in addition to other insignia.

Equipment

Special Constables all carry the same personal protective equipment (PPE) as their regular counterparts, such as handcuffs
Handcuffs
Handcuffs are restraint devices designed to secure an individual's wrists close together. They comprise two parts, linked together by a chain, a hinge, or rigid bar. Each half has a rotating arm which engages with a ratchet that prevents it from being opened once closed around a person's wrist...

, baton
Club (weapon)
A club is among the simplest of all weapons. A club is essentially a short staff, or stick, usually made of wood, and wielded as a weapon since prehistoric times....

s, incapacitant spray (CS spray, pepper spray
Pepper spray
Pepper spray, also known as OC spray , OC gas, and capsicum spray, is a lachrymatory agent that is used in riot control, crowd control and personal self-defense, including defense against dogs and bears...

, or in some forces a solution called PAVA spray
PAVA spray
PAVA spray is dispensed from a hand-held canister in a liquid stream that contains a 0.3% solution of PAVA , a synthetic capsaicinoid, in a solvent of aqueous ethanol...

) and protective vests.

The issuing of equipment varies from force to force with financial factors being the main reason behind the differences. In some forces protective vests, or body armour, may be personally issued to an officer, made to measure, however many other forces cannot afford this practice and instead the use of pool sets is prevalent.

The same practice is also seen with regard to radios: although many forces provide Special Constables with personal radios that they keep in their locker, other forces may only have pool sets. As radios are all the same and only a small percentage of Special Constables are on duty at any one time, it makes sense to draw these from a pool. The management task is to ensure there are enough working pooled radios available in a command area to meet any "surge" need.

Territorial police forces

The vast majority of special constables serve with one of the 52 territorial police force
Territorial police force
The phrase Territorial Police Force varies in precise meaning according to the country to which it is related, generally distinguishing a force whose area of responsibility is defined by sub-national boundaries from others which deal with the entire country or a restricted range of...

s in the United Kingdom. Depending on where they are attested, they have full police powers throughout one of three distinct legal systems - either England & Wales, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 or Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

. This is identical to the jurisdiction granted to regular officers, although prior to 1 April 2007, special constables only had jurisdiction within their force area and any adjacent force areas. In addition, special constables enjoy the same cross-border powers as regular constables.

British Transport Police

Special constables of the British Transport Police
British Transport Police
The British Transport Police is a special police force that polices those railways and light-rail systems in Great Britain for which it has entered into an agreement to provide such services...

 have exactly the same powers and privileges as regular BTP constables, and the same cross-border powers.

Duties

Within recent years the role of Special Constables has changed dramatically and they are now increasingly used alongside their regular colleagues to perform almost all police duties. As well as patrol duties, they often take part in response duties and specials often police events such as sports matches, carnivals, parades and fête
Fête
Fête is a French word meaning festival, celebration or party, which has passed into English as a label that may be given to certain events.-Description:It is widely used in England and Australia in the context of a village fête,...

s. While this event policing is the stereotypical image of a Special Constable, it only represents one of the wide range of duties undertaken. Many police Forces in England and Wales have introduced Neighbourhood Policing Teams and the Special Constabulary has been incorporated into this concept.

The City of London Police recruits accountancy specialists to work directly for its Fraud Squad
Fraud Squad
A Fraud Squad is a police department which investigates fraud and other economic crimes. The largest Fraud Squad in the United Kingdom is run by the City of London Police who are responsible for policing London's and the UK's main financial hub....

.

Special operations

Many Special Constables have taken the opportunity to join specialist teams within their constabularies such as marine support, dog units and roads policing. Warwickshire Police
Warwickshire Police
Warwickshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Warwickshire in England. It was known as Warwickshire Constabulary until 2001. It is the second smallest territorial police force in England and Wales after the City of London Police, with only 998.6 regular officers as...

 has for a number of years been training some of its Specials to work with the Road Policing Unit
Road Policing Unit
The Road Policing Unit is the term for the Highway patrol within the majority of British police forces.-Responsibilities:RPUs work with the National Roads Policing Strategy, which has five strands:* Casualty reduction.* Counter-terrorism....

(RPU); this has been expanded and some Specials are now working with the force's Criminal Intercept Team. A number of other Warwickshire Specials are also trained in response driving. In 2009 Greater Manchester Police
Greater Manchester Police
Greater Manchester Police is the police force responsible for law enforcement within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England...

 also introduced Specials to permanently working within the RPU and have now established a small dedicated team. Bedfordshire Specials have a tasking unit which specialise in Drug enforcement opereration, they were also the first force in the United Kingdom to train Special Constables in the use of method of entry equipment (MOE).

In 1995, Special Constables from Cheshire Police assisted officers from the Ministry of Defence Police
Ministry of Defence Police
The Ministry of Defence Police is a civilian police force which is part of the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence. The force is part of the larger government agency, the Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding Agency , together with the Ministry of Defence Guard Service...

 with a surveillance operation at the former Royal Ordnance Factory
Royal Ordnance Factory
Royal Ordnance Factories was the collective name of the UK government's munitions factories in and after World War II. Until privatisation in 1987 they were the responsibility of the Ministry of Supply and later the Ministry of Defence....

 at Radway Green near Crewe
Crewe
Crewe is a railway town within the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the urban area had a population of 67,683...

.

Public order

As with their full-time counterparts, many Special Constables are trained in public order duties, including policing of football matches and demonstrations. In West Yorkshire Police
West Yorkshire Police
West Yorkshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing West Yorkshire in England. It is the fourth largest force in England and Wales by number of officers, with 5671 officers....

, 24 Specials have received Level 2 PSU (Police Support Unit
Police Support Unit (UK)
A Police Support Unit or PSU is a unit of police officers who have undergone specialist training in public order policing.Police Support Unit training in the United Kingdom is voluntary tactical training undertaken by selected candidates that provides students with the skills required to safely and...

) training, and have become part of the Operation Target team. Operation Target has now disbanded, but West Yorkshire Police have kept the service of the specials in their own Operational Support Unit.

2012 Olympics

There are plans for the Metropolitan Police to have up to 10,000 Specials to help with Olympic security. This will be done either through recruitment, with 700 extra specials being employed in the last year or by borrowing them from other forces.
While this idea would create a much safer environment for the Olympic celebrations, the plans have come under fire from the police federation, who say that "volunteer special constables could drop out at the last minute, causing significant staffing problems".

Acceptance

Historically, Special Constables were often looked down upon by regular officers and resented, as they were sometimes seen as "hobby bobbies" and not proper police officers. During the 1980s, Specials were often considered to be preventing regular officers from earning overtime
Overtime
Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. Normal hours may be determined in several ways:*by custom ,*by practices of a given trade or profession,*by legislation,...

 pay. Nowadays, they now have a much closer relationship with the regular police and are a supplement to understaffed police forces.

A sizeable proportion of regular officers have served as Special Constables before joining the regular force, which is encouraged by recruitment departments. Most police forces will accept applications from the age of 18; and the minimum age to commence training is 17 years and 9 months (Essex Constabulary).

Allowing Special Constables to be paid for their work has been a contentious issue, with mixed comments from all sides, with some people thinking that as specials are doing much the same job as regular officers they should be paid the same, but others thinking that this would attract the 'wrong' type of person (those motivated by monetary gain as opposed to those who are community minded).

Hull City Council offers a 50% discount on Council Tax
Council tax
Council Tax is the system of local taxation used in England, Scotland and Wales to part fund the services provided by local government in each country. It was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as a successor to the unpopular Community Charge...

 for Special Constables who live in the Hull City council area.

See also

  • Canadian Auxiliary Constable
    Auxiliary Constable
    Auxiliary Constables or Reserve Constables are unpaid citizens who volunteer their time and skills to a police force. They are uniformed, unarmed members who performs a similar role to their UK counterpart in the Special Constabulary...

  • Auxiliary police
    Auxiliary police
    Auxiliary police or special constables in England) are usually the part-time reserves of a regular police force. They may be armed or unarmed. They may be unpaid volunteers or paid members of the police service with which they are affiliated...

  • British police
  • Police Support Volunteer
    Police Support Volunteer
    Police Support Volunteer is a voluntary role within the ranks of British Police Forces that involves civilian and mainly office based duties. PSV schemes became popular after the millennium when forces were expanding and needed to be more connected to the community...

  • Constable
    Constable
    A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...

  • Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force
    Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force
    The Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force is established in 1914 as the Police Reserve unit, provides additional manpower to the Hong Kong Police Force, especially during emergencies and other incidents...

  • MASHAZ - Israel's special constabulary
  • Metropolitan Police
    Metropolitan police
    Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...

  • Metropolitan Special Constabulary
    Metropolitan Special Constabulary
    The Metropolitan Special Constabulary is the part-time volunteer police force of Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service. Created nearly 180 years ago under the Special Constables Act of 1831, it currently consists of nearly 5,000 volunteer police officers...

  • Police
    Police
    The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

  • Police Support Unit
    Police Support Unit (UK)
    A Police Support Unit or PSU is a unit of police officers who have undergone specialist training in public order policing.Police Support Unit training in the United Kingdom is voluntary tactical training undertaken by selected candidates that provides students with the skills required to safely and...

  • Singapore Police Force
    Singapore Police Force
    The Singapore Police Force is the main agency tasked with maintaining law and order in the city-state. Formerly known as the Republic of Singapore Police , it has grown from an 11-man organisation to a 38,587 strong force...

  • Special constable
    Special constable
    A Special Constable is a law enforcement officer who is not a regular member of a police force. Some like the Royal Canadian Mounted Police carry the same law enforcement powers as regular members, but are employed in specific roles, such as explosive disposal technicians, court security, campus...

  • Special police
    Special police
    Special Police does not have a consistent international meaning. In many cases it will describe a police force or a unit within a police force whose duties and responsibilities are significantly different from other forces in the same country or significantly different from other police in the same...

  • UK police ranks
    UK police ranks
    Most of the police forces of the United Kingdom use a standardised set of ranks, with a slight variation in the most senior ranks for Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service and the City of London Police...

  • Volunteer Special Constabulary
    Volunteer Special Constabulary
    The Volunteer Special Constabulary is an important component of the Singapore Police Force, contributing more than fifty years of volunteer service to the nation...

     - Singapore
  • Police Service (Volunteer Police) Amendment Act 1992
    Police Service (Volunteer Police) Amendment Act 1992
    The Police Service Amendment Act 1992 was an Act of the Parliament of New South Wales, Australia, establishing a trial of volunteer police officers in the New South Wales Police Service...

    , the Act which created a trial of volunteer police officers in New South Wales
    New South Wales
    New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

    , Australia
    Australia
    Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...


External links

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