Volunteering within the Police: Summary

Key Findings 1. Volunteers bring a range of skills that are useful for the police. Many want to use these skills; however, some want to explore volunteering opportunities that are new to them. A skills analysis of new volunteers will be highly useful, but some will want to do something completely different. 2. Motivations for volunteering vary, from wanting the join the Regulars through to just wanting to do something worthwhile. Managers need to be aware of these differences. 3. Most volunteers enjoy their time with the police and get a lot out of it; yet some feel underused or under-informed, a concern for volunteer retention. 4. Volunteers are generally complementary about their supervision and have good relations with other volunteers and with Regular officers. 5. Special Constables and PSVs see their role as being in support of Regular officers. Whilst this supporting role is important, so too are their roles in improving legitimacy, providing a ‘bridge’ between the regulars and communities, and in making the police more representative of communities. 6. PSVs generally see their role as quite different to the Regulars, and so when asked about PSVs potentially being given powers, most are against the idea.