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Hi all, hope everyone is safe and well during this time. I had applied to GMP as a special constable and had passed all of the assessments. Interview, situational judgement test, written exercise, fitness and medical. I was given an offer and a start date. Unfortunately I had moved to London by the time my start date was given as I had waited such a long time for a start. When I moved to London I attended an open day for the Met to ask a few questions regarding applications and if I would need to do everything from the start, assessments etc. I was told that because the specials assessment is the same across all UK forces, I would only have to do the medical and fitness this time around. Should I clarify this with the college of policing? I have applied to the Met as a special and have been given dates to go for assessments. I asked them the same questions just to be clear and they have said that I would have to do everything all over as they do not know how GMP carries out the assessments as it could be different to the met. I'm a bit confused after being told other information. Any information/input anyone could offer? I would be very grateful. Kind regards, Brian.

I am a former BTP Special Constable. In these increasingly difficult times I want to help in any way I can. I am a trained first aider and remember much of my original police training. Does anyone have any thoughts on what I can or should do?

So this time last year I made a big life change and moved from the Midlands down to London. It was something I'd been thinking about for a couple of years but for some odd reason (comfort zone/it was a scary thought) I just hadn't done it yet. Cue falling in love at the end of 2015 and she then moves to London, becoming my catalyst to do so as well. In November of 2016 I decide to get out of my comfort zone again and do something else I'd been thinking about for years, join the Police! Unfortunately I discover that to join the MET you need to have lived in London for 3 out of the last 6 years... damn. A friend of mine advises me to go down the Special route, as this isn't a requirement and it's also a great way to test the waters. I apply after Christmas and eagerly wait a response. Sadly, during this time my girlfriend decides things just aren't right anymore and ends it. A week after that my Nan passes away... I really need some good news right now! At the end of January I receive an email and I'm successfully through the paper sift. Let the revision being... along with the first entry into this series of blogs... 27th March 2017: My alarm goes off at 0600, although in reality I’ve already been awake for the past hour. The amount of thoughts and questions running around in my mind is starting to make my head hurt. What if the tube is delayed? What if I forget my passport? What if I’m the only one to fail? Maybe I’m not fit enough to do the bleep test. I shake it off and clamber out of bed. Damn, it’s cold. Why has my flatmate turned the heating off? I’m 27 and I don’t want to live like a student! Into the bathroom and look in the mirror. My pathetic attempt at a shave from the night before is embarrassing. I hate shaving in the morning. My inability to, and lack of often shaving always leaves me with a hot, sunburn looking rash. I shower, grab a protein shake, brush my teeth and then get dressed. Suited and booted I grab my duffel bag – not before checking that I have all the documents I need again for the 5th time. Onto the tube I know where I need to go. The dry run I did the week before to the assessment centre helps to ease my mind. At the very least I know how to get to the building! Wow the Tube is hot. All of a sudden I want to live like a cold student. Sweat patches before I even arrive, fantastic. Off the Tube with 45 minutes to spare. Grab a coffee and start to go through my revision notes one last time. Nothing goes in and before I know it I’m walking into Empress State Building. I take a seat next to a bunch of other nervous looking individuals. We’re all here for the same reason. We get chatting and discuss who has revised what, which study books people have purchased, who wants to be a regular and so on. We’re called up to collect our name badges and then whisked off upstairs. First up is the written test. Half an hour to complete, read the question and off I go. 15 minutes in and I’m breezing through… hang on a second, I’ve misread the question! Damnit! No time to go back and restart so I course correct my answer. “And stop writing”. What? That wasn’t 30 minutes, surely the clock’s fast. Pens down and papers collected we’re asked to leave the room and await the results which will be ready shortly. My heart is racing. I sit down with the others and we discuss our answers. Thankfully my confidence is boosted slightly when we all seem to have written the same thing. My name is called along with the 3 other guys I’ve just been chatting to. We’re lead out into a separate room. Either my heart is racing so quickly that I can no longer feel it or I’ve actually died… maybe that’s it, that’ll be better than the rejection I’m surely about to face. “I’m happy to tell you, you’ve all passed. You’ll be heading into your interviews shortly”. We’re all grinning from ear to ear and suddenly I notice my heartbeat again. “Does anyone need the toilet?”. Everyone goes except for me. I get stage fright at the best of times, there’s no way I can go now! I’m lead into a room on my own as the others head off to use the toilets. Within 30 seconds of sitting down a tall chap walks into the room grinning. “Simon? Follow me”. I jump up and he introduces himself. He’s a full time PC. We head into a different room where there is a Special SGT waiting. He introduces himself and I stand there remembering not to sit down yet. I’m politely asked to take a seat and I thank him. For the first few minutes we sit and have a light hearted chat, I’m already at ease. The questions start and I reach into my memory bank of answers, the revision is paying off! Before I know it the interview is over and I’m back in a room with the others. 10 minutes go by and I’m called out of the room with the same guy who I was with when we passed the written. “Congratulations, you’ve both passed the interview”. Smiles all around. The next couple of hours are different documents and checks with the nurse. All is good and then it’s off to the bleep test. One of the guys with us hasn’t got his sports kit. He says he wasn’t told to bring it. Instead he borrows a pair of trainers from an instructor and does it in his shirt and trousers. Fantastic. The bleep test is over before it even feels like it started. Easy. Everyone in the group passes, although I’m fairly sure one person didn’t cross the line on one bleep but the instructor misses it. Ah well. That’s it. It’s 1530 and the day is done. I head back to the Tube along with another guy. We chat for a bit, exchange numbers and then head our separate ways, agreeing to keep in contact throughout the process, which we have so far. I’m back in my flat by 1615. I realise I haven’t eaten since my protein shake. I grab everything I see in my cupboard, collapse in my room and just lie there. I’m absolutely drained. I manage to message my family and a couple of mates to tell them I got through. I go over the day in my head. It’s the furthest I’ve been out of my comfort zone in years, and I’m so happy I did it. I smile, grab my laptop and pop an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine on. I proceed to gorge on my snacks and decide I deserve pizza for today’s efforts, it’ll be the perfect way to fuel tomorrow mornings gym session. TBC… Thank you for reading if you made it this far. I'm currently into my second week of training so will do some more writes up soon. I haven't written like this since school so apologies if it's a bit sloppy!

A police officer has been sacked for having sex with a "vulnerable" teenager after "inappropriate" contact with the person through Instagram. http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/police-officer-sacked-for-having-sex-with-vulnerable-teenager/ar-AAr3ZRm?li=AAmiR2Z&ocid=spartandhp Would he have used his own personal account for instagram in the first instance or do some forces have accounts with all these social media portals? How can someone in this day and age be so stupid as to go down this road?

Rank: Special Constable Length of service: 6 Months Duty time: 1700-0200 All times are estimates due to PNB not being handy... 1700: Get kitted up and head down to briefing. Say hello to early turn who are now finishing up. Begin briefing, one in the bin who was arrested by the night turn for drink drive who blew 162 on the intox machine… he is still unfit for interview! The section I am on with are good and always make me feel welcome, I supply the cakes for the briefing…with some tesco finest belgian cookies! (I highly recommend) 1745: After checking emails etc we head out. I am crewed with a regular who I have been with a number of times and have a good laugh with while on duty. 1900: Comms shout our callsign up for a job concerning a young girl with learning difficulties who lives out of our patch with foster parents. The foster parents have called in worried for her welfare as she has not returned home from school as expected. Her sister has said that she was seen getting into the vehicle of her biological parents, who we find live on our patch. We are made aware there is an order against any contact from the biological parents with this girl and under no circumstances should she be with them at this moment in time. A history of abuse between the father and the young girl is uncovered and seems a very complex situation, all we know is that we have a duty to protect this young girl and she will be coming with us no matter what tonight. After conducting some research on the address we go code 5. My colleague says to me under no certain terms the young girl will be coming with us out of that house no matter what and asks if I am okay if it does “go” as it has potential to do so. I nod and respond “not a problem!” and swiftly throw my bag into the back of the car. We turn up to the address and a male no taller than 5’2 answers the door, This we establish is the biological father, the mother is in the living room with the older brother of the young girl all sitting on the sofa watching television. I introduce myself and my colleague and ask if we can come in to have a chat. He responds with “I have been expecting you lot!” He continues as we enter into the house explaining how there is a ongoing court case concerning where this young girl will be living. We knew all of this already after being checking the log but listen to his side of the story. My colleague brings the male into the kitchen which is at the rear of the property to talk to him in further out of earshot of the rest of the family as I sit with the young girl and begin to talk to her…the living room is taken up by only her and myself now as the older brother has gone upstairs to his bedroom and the mother exited the house in tears claiming to go to her friends house as she can’t deal with this ass we “are taking her little girl away again” This worries me, who is she going to come back with? but I focus on the young girl and begin to talk to her about what is on the television. She says she wants to be a police officer one day… She repeats what the biological father says that she took a bus directly from school to get here, all of her own accord and she wants to live with her biological mother father and brother and how her foster parents are awful to her. I hear the male in the kitchen begin to raise his voice to my colleague as he sets the kettle to boil “I only want a effin cuppa!!!" he states all I can imagine is this male throwing this boiling water at either me or my colleague, lets move this conversation into the living room. My colleague has explained what will be happening this evening… This young girl is coming with us and there is no two ways about it and we believe he has taken her here today from school. He refutes this and becomes aggressive again “bloody ask her!! she said how she got here didn’t you love?!” the young girl looks frightened and just says "yeah, I got the bus like I said" At this point I hear an almighty smash from upstairs…where the older brother has been for the past 20 minutes in relative silence we hear him scream out “You are not taking my sister again!!! you scum!” My colleague draws his captor and I draw mine in the living room as we hear him make his way to the stairs. We anticipate the worst and I ready myself for a roll around, my captor drawn I shake it and hold it behind my right leg, I glance to my right to see the little girl looking terrified…I give her a smile and reassure her things are going to be okay… well I hope they will be at least. A nearby unit with taser shouts up and asks if we need assistance we gladly accept the shout and they make the 10 minute ride over. Things begin to die down just before the back up unit arrives. The older brother makes his way downstairs and apologies for his behaviour saying he is just upset and doesn’t want to lose his sister again…I take him into the kitchen to talk one to one and explain there is a way to go about these things and this isn’t it as there is a court process to follow, he nods in agreement and sips on his tea. The female officer explains to the young girl what will happen tonight that we are here to protect her and she has to go back to her foster parents. The male is standing behind the female colleague looking at the little girl and begins to but in and it is clear he is trying to influence her. No more, we are leaving. The male begins to rant at how we are scum and worse than peadophiles he tries to stop us leaving and promptly receives a shove out of the way… we get out of the front door and the girls mood changes immediately. She is no longer the scared little girl who we saw in the living room in the house that is behind me she becomes cheery and I got a sense of relief from her to be out of there. She explains how she was picked up from school, and how the whole story about the bus was what she was told to say. It also becomes apparent that there has been contact through social media from the male for a long time now which constituted grooming. This will all be followed up but right now our priority was the safety and wellbeing of this young girl. 2230: The girl is now safe at her foster parents house. We make our way back to our patch to get some well needed food! We bump into a male on the main street of the town we patrol he is sleeping on the side of the road. I get out and begin to talk to him and run him through the system. He is well known and came out of prison that day. He has been released to the nearby probation accommodation but is unsure where it is so we give him a lift over and wish him all the best in his new beginning as he put it. 0200: Book off duty after sorting paperwork etc from the main job of the evening. Hope this was a good read, A duty which left me with real satisfaction and has stuck out to me as a highlight so far in my time as a special. Tempo.

Is anyone out there a PSU Medic, as a special or reg? I only ask as it's something I am interested in

A particularly lengthy tour of duty I recently did down to my bad judgement, however my most independent yet! Writing this to procrastinate from my uni revision so hope it's a good read!! Rank: Special Constable Length of Service: 1yr 2mths Planned Hours: 1500-0000 Type of Shift: Immediate Response 1430: Leave for the nick and kit up, go into the reports room and check emails, last shifts lock up's outcome and make sure a particularly tricky customer from a few weeks still hasn't made a complaint (malicious of course) ((He hadn't)) 1500: Briefing, I worked with this team as part of a 10 week placement so I know the majority of them well and I am crewed with a PC I've worked with before 1520: Leave briefing after cakes are distributed, someones birthday rather than any offences committed!! Go and check I'm in the callsign and load up the van. 1530: Straight out to a 15 year old shoplifter, he's compliant 1540: Arrive at the store and meet the shoplifter, he's chatting away to us and the security staff. Decided to nick 2 orange canvas hats despite having the means to pay for them at home. Fully admits it and has no previous for theft. Decide that an RJ is the best course of action. 1600: Load numbnuts into the van and get ready to drive him home for a dressing down in front of dad. He's still in good spirits so I'm wondering whether parents are going to be on our side or his! As we're pulling out of the top of the road my colleague notices someone in the town centre who is wanted for a burglary. He jumps out and grips the guy although he's hobbling on a bad ankle - going nowhere fast. Shout up for another van and I'm sat with shoplifter in the back who is not too pleased that his lift home is taking longer than expected. I advise him that if he doesn't want to sit in a police van he shouldn't steal stuff, which he accepts is a valid point. 1620: Other van turns up and burglar is loaded up for his ride to custody. Shoplifter rings dad and tells him there's been a change of plan, he's coming into the police station to meet us. 1630: Arrive back at the nick. Shoplifter comes with me and sits in one of the VA rooms to wait for dad. My colleague goes to book in his burglar in custody. 1645: Dad arrives. He is an all round good egg and is absolutely horrified at his sons actions. I prompt son to go through and relay the ins and outs of his misdoings to dad in front of my body cam. I explain the RJ scheme to dad and tell him that the store are happy to go along with it, that the disposal may show up on any enhanced CRB check but it looks a lot better than a caution or charge and that it leaves son to be punished as dad sees fit. Dad assures me that son will be suitably chastised and shakes my hand. I make clear to son in no certain terms that another bobby on another day and he would have been sat in a cell right now rather than our very recently febreezed VA room. They go on their merry way with son getting a right earful! 1700: Meet my colleague back in custody. He gives me the bad news first - I'm dealing with the job. The good news is that he will help! I familiarise myself with the handover before preparing my written disclosure and interview plan as well as booking duty solicitor for the interview. It's a pretty open and shut job - the lad is caught staring straight down a CCTV camera and left his phone on the premises - which he later decided to ring up and report as stolen to us! I find out the reason why he was hobbling when I watch a CCTV clip of him falling from the first floor window of the premises that he's burgling! 1745: Radio off in interview. I've interviewed with the solicitor before so I'm expecting a prepared statement and no comment. His client ends up just going no comment without any statement. His head is in his hands by the end of the interview but I'm not sure whether this was down to the impending sense of doom or the pain in his ankle. 1810: Go through return from interview with custody and find out he's 2 months from the end of a 2 year suspended sentence, he's going back to prison but doesn't know it yet!! 1820: Go back through to report room and go into the Sergeant's to ask for charging authorisation as it is an indictable offence. They take one look at the evidence against him and put pen to paper 1830: Take my piece of paper through to custody and get matey boy charged. For some reason decide to put the now caution in the middle of the charge - I was doing so well!! Anyway all gets done and custody sgt breaks the bad news to DP that he's going back to prison. He just wants some medical attention for his ankle - custody sgt asks how long it's been like that and he says he did it last Wednesday but is hesitant to say how. I wait until he's gone back to his cell before informing the sgt that funnily enough someone fell out of a first floor window last Wednesday and that it may or may not be the same guy! 1840: Back into the report room and find my colleague waiting for me with a pizza. I'm absolutely starving so decide to make good use of my refs before starting on the file. 1930: Refs over. I take my seat in the report room and begin filling the forms out for the remand file. 2330: After a long few hours typing, we get the nod to go home. I decide I haven't had enough and that I'm going to jump in the carrier with another colleague of mine from the nights team who is working until 3. 2345: SECOND REFS!! Down to maccies and I'm content with a McFlurry to top the pizza. 0030: Back on patrol. It's a bit Q at the moment but I'm happy just to have a laugh with my old tutor and his special colleague who is out on his first shift. 0100: Grade 1 job comes in. Reports of 4 or 5 fighting in the street. I'm ready for a bit of excitement so I shout us up to go and we fly down to it! 0105: At scene. Not quite as reported, 4 month pregnant heavily intoxicated lady has been removed from a house party after the news she was having an abortion didn't go down too well with her friends and she kicked off about it. She seems to be under the impression she's being locked up for assault and is screaming about how she wants everyone in the house coming in as well, although I inform her that this isn't happening because it's a lawful ejection from the property. She's still effing and blinding and there's a particularly golden moment when she takes her top off to show the new special her 'injuries'. The look of horror on his face was a picture. I promptly order her to dress herself at which point she complies, but then goes round towards the house and directs her abuse at the occupants. I take her back round by the van and for the first time in my 15 month career find a situation where I can tell her firmly to wind her neck in. She's still going on and on and so we decide to put her in the van and give her a lift home. I'm not optimistic. 0155: We travel in convoy with the van to her home address and get her back out. She's initially calmed down but soon starts up again and demands our collar numbers so she can complain about us not locking the other party up. I write her the log number on a scrap of paper and give it to her explaining that if she rings up we'll all be on the log. She says something along the lines of "That's not a flipping collar number **** off" and even after all the chances she's had, I tell her to give me the paper. She refuses to do this so I give her one last chance to go to bed before she comes in with us. Another "**** off" makes my mind up. 0210: One arrested for D&D. I'm in the zone and decide even though she's in a van with another female officer, I'm locking her up. I get a lift back to custody where I meet my colleagues who have transported this lovely lady - now referred to as "the banshee" due to her howling in the van 0220: She gets out the van and she's just as pleasant. Complaining about how she's getting us all sacked for arresting her for asking for her collar number. She comes to the custody desk and starts ranting and raving at the custody sgt. I like this sgt and just mouth D&D and that's all he needs, she's not helped her cause at the desk. More female officers arrive in custody to give a chuck up and she's taken to her cell without a risk assessment. 0240: 3 female officers emerge from the cell with a full outfit. They promptly inform the sgt to add arrests for 2 police assaults to the record and he duly obliged. She decided that custody was a good place to have a swing at a few cops. 0250: I finish booking in the banshee's property and go through to the report room where I am heroically thanked by the team for bringing her in! It's gone from a statement in her custody record for a D&D to a full handover for 2 police assaults and the said D&D - MARVELLOUS! 0300: Start on the handover, 2 crime reports and updating the log 0430: Give the handover the big sell to the sgt and he's happy to sign it off. Home at last. 0500: Dekit and get a lift home. Get back into bed and book off duty at 14 hours. It's just getting light outside... 0600: Sleep.

The thread name is a reference to what I've been told my a lot of PCs who describe the difference between being a Regular and a Special. This thread is directed towards those who started off as Specials then became PCs. Apart from the obvious, what are the differences for both roles? From the PCs I've spoken to, I've gathered a collective opinion as follows: 1) Getting used to shift work whereas Specials can obviously choose when to volunteer 2) A lot more responsibility for following through on jobs 3) A lot of paperwork Does that sum it up? I have opinions from some who work in the service who say that they know Specials who then became PCs. These SC to PC individuals then realise that it's ''so different'' that they don't like Policing anymore. I am a Special btw keen to become a PC.

Essex police car ends up on roof during chase in Wickham Bishops 9 hours ago From the sectionEssex Image copyrightTwitter Image captionEssex Police tweeted photos of the crash and appealed for information about the stolen car A police car has ended up on its roof in a field while it was chasing a car which was believed to have been stolen. Essex Police had a call about an Audi RS3 being driven erratically at Wickham Bishops near Witham on Friday evening. Shortly after the police car began its pursuit, the driver lost control, hit a telegraph pole and crashed into the field off Maldon Road. The two male officers inside the car had minor injuries. The Audi has yet to be located. Essex Police said the Audi was believed to have been stolen from Allectus Way in Witham on Friday evening. The squad car, which crashed at 18:45 GMT, contained a police constable in his 30s and a special constable in his late teens, Essex Police said. Special Inspector Jo van Zanten tweeted photographs of the crashed car and called it "a lucky escape for two Braintree officers". http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-35449820

Hello all, As many of the posts on this forum relate to recruitment, I thought I'd make a blog entry about my experiences as an SC interviewer in my force. Hopefully this will be useful to those of you who are thinking about applying or currently waiting for your assessment centres, specifically those applying as an SC. I have been on both sides of the table for SC interviews, I remember mine well & remember the feeling of being sat in the waiting room, flinching every time the door opened dreading the time they'd call my name but also wishing it was over and done with; I remember being in the interview room, the sense of panic when the questions differ from what you've prepared for and I remember the nervous next few days waiting for an email saying yes or no. Now I'm on the other side of the desk, it's all too easy to say "don't be nervous", "be yourself" or any other cliche line but hopefully by reading this blog post you'll be able to avoid some little mistakes which unfortunately lead to people failing. Please bear in mind, my experiences relate to interviewing Special Constables in one force. While some points may be applicable in other areas, things will vary by force and will differ for PC applicants. My points will relate to general pros & cons I've found to be relatively common which trip people up, this is not a "how to pass" or "secret guide to..." & I'll not be discussing specific questions/criteria you may be assessed on. Any advice given is not scripture & therefore if you go on to use it, you do so at your own risk. 1) Know what you've applied for! - Sounds simple, right? You'd be surprised! You wouldn't go to a 'normal' job interview if you didn't know what the job was & what you'd be doing, and just because this is voluntary (for you SCs), that doesn't change. I've interviewed people who claim to have done loads of research, who have friends/family in the job, been Police Cadets, but then don't know that SCs have identical powers to regular officers, can arrest/search people, the hours commitment or even what sort of general work the police do! This is an easy way to fail! If you want to be a Special Constable, how do you expect me to pass you if you don't even know what a Special Constable is?! DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!! I can't state that enough! Whatever the force, you will most likely be sent a load of material before your assessment, read it, read it & read it again! Have a look at your forces website, specifically the Specials page if that's what you're applying for, and find out as much as you can about them. By all means speak to friends & family in the job, use these forums & wikipedia or whatever, but always go with what the official websites/material say. 2) Know your "drivers"! - I don't mean Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button, I mean 'competencies' or essentially the criteria you are being assessed against. The specifics of these will vary by force but I'd be surprised if you weren't sent some kind of framework/criteria prior to your interview, which outlined what you be asked about or what you will need to demonstrate in your interview & throughout your career. This is another thing to read and read again as getting to know these will make your interview less of shock. In my force, all our questions are based around these drivers meaning if you know them inside out, none of the questions I ask should seem odd. Often drivers/competencies will involve several different aspects, be prepared to be holistic about it but potentially really specific about one aspect too. The best way to describe this is "trees" (bear with me!): Say I want to interview you about trees. I could ask a general question about them & cover the all basics of trees, or I could ask you specifically about the roots, the trunk, the branches, the leaves & so on. Now, you may have seen you were going to be interviewed about trees so you've prepared a nice overview answer but, you don't know much about their roots specifically. Turns out my question is about the roots, I don't want to hear your prepared general answer or about the branches. I only care for the roots. Make sense? Don't make this mistake. Make sure you know about & are comfortable with ALL aspects of the criteria because you don't know how specific my question is going to be. 3) Think about your examples! - The vast majority of police assessment centres are "competency based". This means I'll be asking you to prove to me that you meet the specific criteria. To do this, I don't need general, wishy-washy answers about how you feel about something, who you are as a person or how you think you'd deal with certain situations. I need you to give me specific examples of when/how you have done something that meets ALL the points of the questions. I emphasise "all" because if I ask the question to tell me a time when you've successfully done XYZ, I want to hear "a time" i.e one example, when "you've" i.e. I don't care what other people did, "successfully" i.e. you may have done XYZ but if it didn't work don't use it, "done XYZ" i.e not just X or not just Y, I want to see all three. Think about these before the day and get them right. Often people will use the wrong examples for the wrong criteria and try desperately to make them fit & will then use another example for a different question which would have covered the previous criteria perfectly. I will not correct you & cannot use the answer to one question as evidence for another (unless you use the same example for both questions which is acceptable in some forces). I have to go with the specific answer you gave so it's worth getting right. 4) Avoid using "we"! - This is often seen if using examples of where you've worked in a group but is still pretty common during entire interviews. Even if the question is about teamwork, this is YOUR interview & I want to hear about specifically what YOU did, I don't care about anyone else. Using "we" doesn't do you any favours & can lead to you not actually answering the question & therefore losing marks. On that note... 5) Listen to & answer the question! - Again, sounds obvious but many, many people don't! If you don't hear or don't understand any part of the question, ask me to repeat it. I can do so as many times as you like & can even rephrase it if it doesn't make sense to you. Asking me to do this does not lose your marks & ensures you hit all the points you need to. The question is all I care about. Do not waffle, go off on a tangent, give me a load of corporate spiel or generalised answers, it won't do you any favours and won't get you any marks. You can say you're the pope, the dalai lama, mother teresa & superman all rolled into one, that's great... but it doesn't answer my question & is therefore of no use to me. If the question asks for a specific example, give me one. If it asks how you'd deal/have dealt with a specific scenario, do not deviate from that scenario because that's not what I asked. I appreciate it's a fine balance you need to strike, if you do not demonstrate what you've been asked (either by saying too much irrelevant stuff or simply not enough at all), I cannot prompt you other than asking to clarify the specific points of the question. 6) Take your time! - Many of the above issues simply come from people panicking. Although I'll have a lot of recruits to interview & can't wait for you all day, there is no rush. Taking a bit of time to think about your answer before you speak will do you wonders & will avoid you blurting out whatever comes into your head that is vaguely related to the question! 7) Don't talk about stuff you don't know! - You answering my questions impresses me, you don't need to try and talk "job" if you don't know what you're on about. Unless asked for (& certainly not in my force), I do not need you to quote legislation to me, talk about jurisdiction, the fact you know the difference between different types of police vehicles, what different ranks can/can't do etc etc. I'm not expecting you to be a police officer, I'm expecting you to answer my questions to show you have potential to become one. Often people will read stuff online that is simply wrong and quote it in an interview to impress me... it doesn't. Unless it's relevant I will not correct you, I'll just think you're a little bit silly 8) Don't take your past for granted! - Have you been a cadet? Served in another force as a PCSO, Special or even Regular. That's great! I look forward to you smashing all the questions by having relevant examples to give. Please don't assume past policing experience is a golden ticket to getting in, it isn't! I have failed people who evidently have done no preparation after they assumed that because they can use acronyms, talk "job" to me & have had a warrant card in the past, that they'll get in. I take every recruit as they come. Yes, policing experience puts you at an advantage by a) probably having gone through a similar process already and b) it should give you excellent relevant examples to the questions I'll be asking but that's it. Unless you use that experience to demonstrate that & answer my questions, I cannot pass you. Don't be arrogant! 9) Don't lie! - In many forces you are interviewed by serving officers... don't try and lie to police officers or even HR for that matter, it doesn't end well. It's obvious and easily unravelled, if you do we can & will check! If you miss out & fail at the interview stage because you haven't provided satisfactory answers, you are welcome to try again. If you get found out for lying, you can forget any future career in the police on honesty & integrity grounds. Don't risk it! 10) Don't be disheartened! - If the worst happens & you fail at interview stage, that does not mean you are not suitable for the job. True, some people just simply don't cut it but in a lot of interviews that fail I find myself getting frustrated, not at you but for you. Much of want you're saying is great, but as per the points above, either you've not said it in the right place or not used it in the correct way to answer the very specific question you may be asked. If the force you're applying to does offer feedback, please take it on board, use the experience you've just had, review what you had planned & try again... please! I almost enjoy passing people who I see a second time more than I do first-timers! Hopefully that all proves useful to someone! If you'd like to ask me any general questions about interviews, please do so below or PM me. As I've said above though, I cannot & will not give specifics about your assessment day. Best of luck to those currently in the recruitment process! Regards, HPE

So I arrived at the station for my first ever shift as a fully attested special constable. Although my rank still stands as "trainee" special constable, it still feels good to finally be allowed out on the streets. So it was a Sunday afternoon at 14.45. I made my way to the second floor of Maidstone police station and knocked on the LDPT (local district police team) sergeants office. I informed the SGT who I was and he told me to go wait in the office in the next room. 10 minutes went by, which felt like an hour. He called me into the briefing room and my first ever police briefing had begun. Who got told of some potential wanted people and I got told who I'd be crewed with. We got a vehicle and off we went. My crew mate was a regular PC and a great one at that. Very funny and welcoming. We done a bit of "hunting", as he liked to call it, and mainly went to the more rougher parts of Maidstone to see what we could find. To sum up the evening, I carried out a s23 MDA persons search, s1 Pace persons search and assisted my colleagues in the vehicle searches for both the above. We also had a failure to stop however this didn't make off at speed. When the guy finally stopped he blamed it on the blue Xmas lights hanging off his mirror and claimed he didn't see us. (Ok then!) After a stern warning, we could smell alcohol coming from him and noticed a can of Stella in the driver side door. A breath test revealed 23mgs of alcohol in his breathe, very lucky indeed. Overall, a very good first shift and looking forward to my morning shift on Tuesday.

Newcastle Falcons' Rob Hawkins becomes special constable 20 November 2015 From the sectionTyne & Wear Image copyrightNorthumbria Police Image captionRob Hawkins is a hooker for the Newcastle Falcons A professional rugby player will try to tackle crime in his new role as a special constable. Newcastle Falcons player Rob Hawkins has completed his first shift as a volunteer officer for Northumbria Police. The 32-year-old hooker, who previously played for Bath and Leicester Tigers, said he is considering a career in the force when he retires from rugby. Northumbria Police said they hope he will inspire others to volunteer. Ch Insp Sarah Pitt, said: "We're really pleased that Rob has joined us as a special constable and we hope it encourages other people to think about getting involved. "Our volunteers are a vital link between us and the communities we serve and we welcome the different skills they bring from their own professions." Stats of a special constable Rob Hawkins in numbers 85 Appearances for Bath Rugby, Leicester Tigers and Newcastle Falcons 5ft 11 in (1.8m) tall 15.7 stone (100kg) weight 32 Years old 2 Trophies won, the Aviva Premiership in 2011 and LV= Cup in 2012 Source: ESPN Getty Images SC Hawkins said: "I'm probably in my twilight years with my rugby career, so I'm starting to think heavily about the transition into the real world and I've always been interested in the police. "Whilst I've got the opportunity to give it a whirl as a volunteer I decided to try it. "I've played in front of 80,000 people before but I don't think I was as nervous then as I was starting my first shift. "I've been getting a bit of a ribbing. I'm not looking forward to seeing a few of the boys in town when they've had a couple of jars as I'm sure they will probably try to steal my hat and other pranks, but I've told them they'll be in trouble." Image copyrightGetty Images Image caption Rob Hawkins previously played for Bath and the Leicester Tigers before joining the Newcastle Falcons in 2014 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-34878360

Rank: Special Constable Length of service: 3 months Duty time: 1500-2200 All times are estimates: 1500: all kitted up head on down to the briefing room. Say Hi to the skipper and a few of the guys who are in and ready for briefing. Find who I am crewed with, Ive been with him before and he is a good laugh 1540: First call of the day…comes through as an assault so make our way towards on blues. 1550: Arrive. Greeted by a large group of people in the street claiming the male who has been assaulted was attempting to steal from a near by building site and the workers did not take to kindly to this so decided to give him a bit of a pasting for it. I take some details of some witnesses in case they are needed. Turns out the male has had a bit of an accident during the whole incident and managed to soil himself. He claimed that he was only in the building site to go to the toilet but the workers claim he was seen trying to take a drill from the site. Long story short neither party wanted to take it any further so colleague got a signature from the male who was assaulted and have a few words with the builders. All in order so we are on our way! 1740: Asked to make our way to a sudden death. This would be my first call of this nature. 1750: Arrive at the address. Friends of the deceased are there and are understandably upset after finding their friend deceased. We make our way inside and are greeted by a paramedic who arrived before us and has confirmed the male has passed away. Paramedic passes us the paper work we needed and he is on his way. Colleague lets me take the lead on the job and I complete the relevant paper work for the coroner as he called for the undertaker to come, I placed the tag onto the male and made some enquires as to who was the next of kin. 1845: Undertakers arrive. Give them the paperwork they need and then gave them some assistance with moving the deceased into the bag so he can be transported. Undertakers make their way off. We secure the property with a friend of the deceased and make our way off too. 1910: Refs break, I was starving! got myself a nice curry and a fanta. 1930: Back at the station to email the paperwork to the coroners office etc… 2200: Book off duty! Hope this was a good read Tempo.

Rank: Special Constable Length of service: 3 months Duty time:1800HRS-0115HRS 1800: Get to the station and say hi to the skipper and a few of the guys who are on this evening. I had never been on with the section who were on, but they all seemed nice and welcoming! Go and kit up and get crewed with a regular. About to check briefing but we are called up to deal with a disturbance at a property nearby. Arrive to the property to find a female at the door who is angry about claims she is due to be a grandmother which when she has arrived to the address of her son and his girlfriend the claims have been denied...among all this she has claimed to be assaulted where the other party are claiming she has forced entry. Female is advised to move along as there are better ways to get to the bottom of her questions. Told she can make a allegation if she so wishes but can expect one to come straight back at her if thats the case! She duly agrees to move along and is escorted to her home by her son. 1910: Respond to a call of a male who claims to have people outside his address who are being threatening...Colleague says the male is known to us and has a a history of MH issues. Arrive to the address and first thing that I see is a stanley knife by where the male was sitting...that can move straight away! He explains how he is hearing males outside his house at all hours saying his name and explaining in great detail what he is doing in his home, the stanley was there incase anybody tries to get into his address. Reassure the male that there were no males outside his property when we arrived and say we will make sure to patrol around the area. Explain that he is to call 999 if anybody tries to gain entry to his property and we will be right around. The male claimed to be taking his medication due to be a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic and explained how he was not going to harm himself or others. My colleague put in information to the MH team in regards to the male to follow up with him. 2000: Back at the station briefly as colleague needed to follow up some crimes he had...I used the time to update my PDP. 2030: Called to respond to two males being detained by security staff at a supermarket after being caught shoplifting. One of the males was said to have assaulted a member of staff and is being highly aggressive Blue light run to the call(adrenaline running a bit :P)...arrive to one male being cooperative and being supervised by two of the store staff in a side room. The other male was being detained on the floor with three staff lay on him to make sure he was going nowhere! myself and my colleague take control of the male who is swearing an awful lot but is begining to calm down now we are dealing with him, result! my colleague cuffs him and we bring him to another side room. My colleague places him under arrest on sus shoplifting, the male takes a disliking to a female officer and is promptly told to shut up and is swiftly lead to the back of the van! We talk briefly about the second male and decide to bring him in also. Another officer asks if i wish to make the arrest and i gladly oblige! we make our way in and I place the male under arrest on sus shoplifting, he comes without issue and is placed into the back of a car and escorted to custody. 2130: Arrive to custody and book my prisoner in. 2230: Complete a arrest statement with the help of a awesome regular officer who was really helpful! print it off and hand to my colleague who will be heading up the interviews. I am asked if i wish to sit in on the interview of the male I arrested to which I say yes. 2300: Section have their meal for the evening...I just have some water as I had ate before coming out to shift but quickly regret this as the kebabs smelt so good! 0010: Interview begins with the male who I arrested, He fully admits the offences and the interview lasts no longer than five minutes. It was still good to see how the interview process works though and how my colleague put questions across to the male. 0030: Decision is made on both males on how they will be dealt with. The male who was at first aggressive is RJ'd along with a cannabis warning after a further search at custody found the smallest amount of cannabis on his person know to man, it was found out a bit later on he had not assaulted any of the staff but "looked like he may assault someone!". Male 2 is cautioned for the offence as he had similar previous so could not be RJ'd. I found this a really good experience as it was the first time to see a crime through from arrest to the end...even if it wasnt the crime of the century All in all a pretty productive shift 0115: book off duty. hope this was worth a read! Tempo

Rank: Special Constable Length of service: 1 month Planned duty time 1700HRS-0300HRS All times are estimates: 1645: Arrive at station to get kitted up, this will be my second shift out on section with regulars and I have never met the section before so get myself sorted then make my way down to the briefing room as early shift is about to leave. Introduce myself to the team and the sarg. Find who I am crewed with, he is a ex special and a good laugh! Get my order in for the chinese later in the evening - Chicken curry, Chips and egg fried rice box meal! 1730: First job - a abandoned 999 call. Dispatched as a prompt, get to the address and everything is in order, child has picked up the phone and dialled 999 but when the operator has answered she has panicked and dropped the phone! words of advice given and on our way. 1800: On to the next job, a woman has been having issues with her ex partner who she has not heard from in the past year or so but has came out of the woodwork. On the way to the job my colleague says he will let me take the lead on this one if I like which I am happy to do! As we are on route to the RP comms call up to say the RP has just called again to report another incident that has happened today so the log is updated to a prompt. Arrive at the address and have a chat with the lady, she is with a new partner and wants nothing to do with her ex. I go through DASH form with her which was good experience for me to complete my first one! 1900: At the station putting all the paperwork together for the previous call and email it off. 1940: Circulation comes through of a sus DUI we are in the area of the registered keepers address so make our way toward but the vehicle is not there, area search no trace. 2030: Respond to a sus drink driver at a wedding. Arrive to the wedding to find the male in question with his car parked up. He is in the foyer of the venue with his keys waving them around, my colleague and myself ask him to sit down and have a chat with us he isn’t really having it and is talking about how he wishes safeguards to be put in place for his daughter from the mother. No real evidence of drink driving, but the call is now coming to be a domestic incident between the male in question and his partner who are making allegations against each other, the male heavily in drink. Male is given strong words to leave the party now. He gets our shoulder numbers, still unsure as to why! and before coming very close to going in the bin for the evening for breach of the peace finally gets into a lift and makes his way home. Colleague decides to complete DASH with the mother while I get some details of the children for 121A form. 2200: Finally done with the job, all paperwork completed and emailed off! 2345: Boy racer type comes flying around the corner, follow him and decide to pull him over due to the manner of his driving and also his exhaust looks a bit dodgy. I run the vehicle through PNC and all comes back okay (later find out from a colleague the car should have came up as having a s59 order against it) words of advice given. i.e. stop buying all of halfords stock and putting it on your car as it isn’t a good look! only joking haha. 0010: Respond to a call of alleged damage to vehicles on a street, 4 youths with hoodies seen to hit wing mirrors of a number of cars and make their way into the town centre. We are close to respond. Area search, no trace for the youths but go to have a look at the cars and only one vehicle seems to have sustained some damage to the nearside wing mirror. Take vehicle details into PNB and close the log. 0040: No sooner are we done a circulation comes through of a sus drink driver making his way down the main A road in the area, coming our direction, with the registered keepers address just around the corner. We call up saying we will wait near the registered keepers address. The vehicle also comes up as having no MOT or Insurance…what a catch this could be! 0050: Strategically position ourselves near the address, I’m thinking to myself this is pretty cool, I’m not ashamed to admit it! haha. 0110: Have a look at the address to see if the vehicle has made its way back another way, no trace. Have a look around the area to see if it may be in a hedge or somewhere but no trace. Call up to say we have had no luck, boo!!! 0130: Called to assist with a prisoner escort, make our way over. Domestic incident, both parties are being brought in as both have sustained injuries and have made allegations against each other. 0150: Arrive at custody, Male is cooperative. I don’t really get involved just watch the guys way of booking in. 0250: After a coffee, book off shift! very good shift for me personally and really happy to be out on section. Hope this was a good read

Rank:SC Length of Service:3 months Planned Hours:0700x1500 Type of Shift:Traffic the Bobby I was with said this was a slow shift even with us trying to be proactive. 0650: arrive to kit up and sign on before briefing 0700 grab our vehicle and kit it out, check everything's working 0715 joint special ops briefing 0730 briefing ends 07:45 quick catch up and were off 0815 arrive on the south bank of the force where we are today and drop some stuff off at the local Nick, and head up to park on some popular roads to monitor. 09:20 been around a few spots and a bit of a drive when we find a chap without a seatbelt, pull him over and issue a ticket (TOR). 10:25 head off to see if we can catch some speeders, get the speed gun out when.. 10:30 call of debris lane 2 on the motorway so we head off for that, the torque on the bmws is immense. In the time you overtake a few cars you're almost topping triple figures. 10:40 empty motorway and we hit 155, first time I've done this so I had a nice grin on my face.. 10:45 rolling road block on and road checked, debris has cleared itself to off the carriage way, resume with patrol back to our speed gun spot 12:00 nothing found so refs 12:45 resume patrol with another patrol in convey, heading to a popular road to try some get MOT/Tax/Insureance hits, drive around then head back to the nick 1500 arrive at the Nick and go home pretty boring shift but was a lot different and I really enjoyed it 12:00 refs 12:45 head back out

Hi guys, so here is a write up from my second shift that I have recently had and thought I would share with you all as it was quite an eventful one! Rank: Special Constable Length of Service: Second shift Planned duty: 1500HRS - 2300HRS All times are estimates as PNB is not to hand. 1500HRS: Arrive at station…forget the code for the changing room…OOPS! pop down to the response room and see the person who I am crewed with in there so have a quick word and get told the combination so go to kit up quick to catch briefing. 1520: Briefing completed. DS comes in and asks if my colleague and myself would like to go and complete an arrest on a female wanted for questioning over an alleged assault that has taken place and caused some serious injuries to the other party, we say yes! Go to get briefed on circs and all that, run the person and address through systems for warning markers, previous etc then pop down to custody to let them know we will be bringing one in within the hour and how it will be my first. 1600: Get a marked car and begin to make our way to the address, nerves beginning to kick in as we have decided I will take the arrest! go through the procedure and the custody routine. 1620: get to the address and knock on the door, the female answers and lets us in but needs to get dressed, she is compliant and we wait on her landing for her. She comes out ready and I make the arrest and deliver a caution which came out so fast I didn’t even understand it myself at the time so when I asked her if she understood and she said “yes” it was quite a shock! All of this happens just before the female breaks into tears due to the fact she was under arrest (I don’t blame her, it can’t be nice to have your liberty taken away from you) We wait for her to secure her property and get to the car to put the cuffs on and do a quick search. Some teenager is snooping around asking whats going on he is swiftly told to move on. 1650: Arrive at custody, sweating quite a lot! booking in goes well even though I was very nervous! wait with the DP to get booked in and wait for a female DO to come to do a more thorough search and we are then let loose. 1720: DS asks for a arrest statement so get on writing that up which was good experience for me, get it checked over by the SGT who brushes it up a little. Print another copy for my PDP file as it will come in handy. 1830: REFS! mcdonalds which consists of a chicken legend and coffee. 1915: Back on patrol. respond to a call of a male in distress and begin to make our way 1930: Arrive to the address, quite out in the sticks! two dogs running around which makes me edgey as I must admit I’m not the biggest fan of dogs! but they are playful and not nasty. We begin talking to the male who is complaining of chest paints and talks about his mental health, claims to have PTSD, Depression amongst other issues and is shaking a lot and clutching at his chest the whole time. We decide to get a ambulance called so I make the call through my radio. 1945: Paramedic responder car arrives, very quickly too! finds the male to have a heart rate of 175, very high! Ambulance still en route. 1955: Ambulance arrives, looks like the fella is off to hospital for the night to get himself sorted! we wait around for them to leave then head off ourselves. 2115: Go code 5 for a reported RTC involving a pedestrian and a vehicle. Arrive on scene to find no trace of either… call the number of the RP who is heavily in drink and says the problem is sorted! and is a mile and a half down the road now. Lovely. Close the log on that one! 2210: Respond to a call from a Female saying a motorbike is loitering around her property and keeps looking into the drive. Worried as has had a bike stolen recently. We respond and make a note for the neighbourhood team and have a look around the area for said bike but no luck. 2230: DAMN! just as we were going to go back to the station to write some stuff up and book off we are called to respond to a incident involving a dog that has been sold over the facebooks. We arrive and I begin to talk to the couple who have had the dog off of the other party involved after posting a Facebook ad asking for a dog to rehome. The original owners respond and offer a dog and say they will allow the couple to have the dog for the night to see how it settles. The evening comes and the original couple text saying they want to meet as they want the dog back (I think, it was quite confusing!) so they meet at a public location and decide to call the police. After much deliberation my colleague decides, after speaking with a superior, that the dog should go back into the possession of the original owners as they have all of the relevant paperwork still and there is nothing really in paper to support the other couple. Words of advice given to both parties and we head back! 23:30 Book off duty

Rank: Special Constable Planned duty time: 0830HRS-1630HRS Length of service: First duty So I have recently had my first duty, I have had good fun reading other members blogs on this site so I thought I would begin to put down some things from my shifts for others to read and also for myself to read back in the future perhaps. Do bare with me I'm not a talented writer and this is the first one! All times are estimates as my PNB is at the station. 0830: Meet with fellow special that I will be crewed with, he has been great and has made the settling in at the station really painless so I was feeling pretty clam about the upcoming shift we went though some of the paper work I will need to get together such as stop and search forms, DASH forms etc. 0900: Check emails. Talk to some of the regs that are on duty and let the sergeant know we are around today and will be taking up foot patrol in the town. Check briefing for any nasties that we could maybe see on our travels and note down details. 0930: Begin foot patrol, the public are very happy and surprised to see two police officers actually walking through the town, we engage with members of the public giving directions and just general chit chat. It was nice to see the public feeling reassured to see a officer presence which is becoming less and less these days. 1100: Foot patrol takes us through the graveyard a hot spot in the town for drug and alcohol use. Lo and behold as we walk through we find two males sitting behind one of the out buildings with a open bottle of cider and a few other cans with them, both heavily in drink but compliant. We get them to pour the alcohol away and clean the area they have been in, turns out one of the males was at court only the day before on shoplifting charges and was giving a suspended sentence for the second time. Colleague runs them both through PNC, neither are wanted but markers on one of the males due to having uncapped needles on him in the past and a history of drug misuse for this we decide to search him under s23 MDA. Colleague completes the search and I completed the form which was good for me. 1200: Head back to the station to give sergeant the paperwork from the search and to make sure it was completed correctly, thankfully it was! ask if we can get a car to go over to the next town over, there is one available so we take it. 1230: refs break consisting of a large chicken pasty and a bottle of water...now we just need to find somewhere to eat it! while we are finding a place to park to eat loads of reports of RTC's in the area are coming through, probably due to the conditions and people not driving appropriately for them. 1315: Head over to the other town and show our face at the station, talk to the sergeant there and get briefed on persons of interest in the area at the moment 2 took our interest in particular one was a female who has been in the town around school kicking out times heavily in drink causing problems and another was a male who is a prolific shoplifter in the area at the moment. We decide to start a foot patrol in the town on the off chance they may be around. 1400: No trace on either POI, once again public are happy to see police on patrol engaging with them. Head back to the station and decide we are going to go back to the main station. 1410: serious RTC comes over the radio possible fatalities, we call up saying we can go code 5 as we are only 10 minutes away. We go code 5 and make our way to the collision. 1425: Code 6. 2 vehicle collision on a busy A road between a hatchback travelling eastbound and a tipper truck which was travelling westbound, it seems the truck has had a mechanical issue and the driver has said that he couldnt keep it from going into the opposite carriageway and has hit the hatchback with his nearside hitting the offside of the hatchback. Speak to sergeant on scene who asks us to begin with controlling traffic with my colleague and myself going either end of the collision and directing them through between us. 1450: Fire/Ambulance leave the scene. Eastbound carriage is still shut but westbound carriage is now open. The amount of rubber neckers is unbelievable and some more accidents almost happen! 1555: Recovery vehicles arrive for the vehicles. 1612: Highways arrive to clear the carriageway and fix the road which has taken some damage from the collision. 1635: Leave scene, have to go to a local station to drop of some cones that were used in the scene 1710: return to the station 1730: Book off duty! I will add there where thankfully no fatalities at the RTC and only minor injures were sustained in the end which was very lucky judging by the state of the hatchback. I had a really good first duty and learnt that even when it is "Q" anything can come in at any time as it did with this serious RTC. I learnt alot today and cant wait to get back out there! Hopefully this was at least barely readable and interesting!

OK, my first blog entry. Rank: SC Experience:6 Months Duty: Response, 1900-0400, Sunday night of a Bank Holiday weekend - all timings approx. 1900: Get in and do the self brief and some paperwork. The Sgt has been working away so it's the first time I've met him though I know the others on duty. 1940: Just as a coffee arrives a call comes in from a single crewed officer who has detained three men and a van round the back of a shopping block - sus theft by finding. The Sarge and I go down in the van and a traffic unit comes in as well. All three have been arrested and I drive their rather ramshackle van with the evidence in it back to the nick. Help in booking two of them in than the arresting office, Sarge and I go out to do S18 searches. Can only get access to one property, the occupants are OK and I know one of them. Nothing suspicious found but yet again I wonder how people can allow their homes to get into such a state. 2100: Back to the nick for a brew and a butty. My S/Insp has come in to do some paperwork and we talk about a few things. He decides to come out on patrol, so we grab a vehicle and book on. Just as we are going out of the Station a call comes in to a domestic. Although we are not response trained it is not far away and we are first on scene (by about 15 seconds). We find a woman who Private Eye might describe as 'Tired and Emotional' sitting in the drive. I take her and sit her in the car while my Insp and two others go inside. After about 10 minutes of her insane ramblings "my sister gets away with it because she works for MI5" (turns out the sister works in a local supermarket) my Insp comes out and arrests her for assault. Seems she turned up at a family party already hammered and clocked her sister one in the eye. Back to the nick and book her in - have to hang around for ten minutes while a female officer comes over to do the search. S/Insp does a statement and I do a neat PNB write up for the file. 2300: Paperwork finished as a call from a single crewed officer in town comes in for help breaking up a scrap. By the time we get there another crew is on hand and one miscreant is cuffed and led off. The usual moans and groans from Joe Q Public, all of which receive the same response 'phone 101 in the morning and tell then all about it'. 2345: After a spell of the usual stuff the doormen at the big club tell us they have had a handbag theft which was caught on CCTV and they have the victim and suspects inside. We do some preliminary questions to establish identity and view the footage - pretty blatant. After a radio call with the Sarge the van crew come down and three ladies are arrested on sus of theft. One of the regulars agrees to do the file so Insp and I do PNB entries. 0130: Back into town - very busy but not much trouble. One lad claims to have been thumped but not much else beyond the normal stuff. I go back to the club to get copies of the CCTV. As I'm coming out there is a girl being loaded into the back of a patrol car apparently having a fit - my Insp goes with her to AnE where the doctor clocks her as faking it, the give away is when he produces an enormous needle and she shies away. She is left to find her own way home. 0300: Chuck out time and for once it goes smoothly (good job as custody is now full and next nearest is over an hour away). I see a bunch of my students who are having a good time and a very well endowed young lady bends down in front of me to pick up her cigarette and (just) manages to avoid having a wardrobe malfunction - my parting comment was 'For God's sake, love, don't sneeze'. One minor casualty receives first aid, not serious but a slip over and a split lip. 0400: Back to finish off the paperwork and head for home at 0430, just as the birds are giving it root-toot.

My last shift for a while due to resigning to go home from Uni forever! Was a decent one and will hopefully be back soon albeit with another force Rank: Special Constable Length of Service: 1yr 3mths Planned Hours: 1500-0000 Type of Shift: Immediate Response 1520: Arrive at the nick, no cakes because I've been in my last uni exam so its prearranged lateness!! Kit up and go to meet my tutor who I've worked with for most of my short service who I would now call more of a friend than a colleague and stick my stuff in the car 1540: Straight out on the hunt for a free brew 1600: Park up for a brew and get earmarked with a Grade 2 Domestic - 10 year old lad and his nan have had a to do. 1620: Turn up, colleague talks to nan and I go to find lad who is sulking 20 yards down the road. He's basically kicked off over her not giving him chewing gum, she's put him outside the front and he's booted the rear light of her car smashing it. Have a chat with him and he's all attitude for the time being. However he accepts that he's done wrong and shouldn't have kicked the car. He's only turned 10 a month ago so I explain to him that he's not a kid anymore and that this time we might be able to sort it but in the future he could be getting arrested and that the cells are not a nice place to be. He's reluctant to go back to the house but eventually persuade him and he has a chat with my colleague which prompts the waterworks. Arrange for him to go round to his friends for a few hours to cool off and take details for a youth referral. No DV report due to his age not meeting the criteria so happy days. 1645: Come clear and go for a drive, get sent to a report of 4 males threatening informants dad. We were apparently called to the address the day before to sort a civil dispute with next door so imagine it could be related. As we turn up in the road a car drives past us with 4 big lads on board. Go into address and dad says they weren't offering any violence, just telling him to back off from next door but that his daughter has overreacted but nevertheless give him advice to ring us if they come back. Go next door and surprise surprise the lady there knows nothing about it and would NEVER do such a thing. We give her words of advice re not sending heavies round to next door if it was her or her husband. Check the car that passed us and it comes back to an address round the corner so we float round. No car there and no answer to knocking so decide to leave it for now. 1710: Volunteer for a concern for safety job. Son who lives out of force hasn't heard from mum in a while so wants us to go and do a welfare check. 1720: On route to concern safety and a grade 1 domestic comes in near the concern safety. Son is apparently holding mum with a pitchfork to her throat. We break to go and deal. 1725: Arrive at scene, it's on a farm in the middle of nowhere so it takes a good minute or so to find once we're in the vicinity. Turns out it's nothing like reported. Wanted male has been staying at the farm. Farm worker has told him he can't stay anymore so he has responded by throwing bricks at farm worker and another lad there. Then went and picked up a particularly fetching pink pitchfork and has thrown this at them. Offender has then run off and collected a home made knife and small pick axe and come back to threaten them with these. When he's seen them on the phone to us he's scarpered. Description circulated and heli and dogs on the way!! If found he's coming in for affray. 1740: Statements from the two workers who have been threatened. 1820: Statements finished. One patrol thinks he has spotted offender somewhere but turns out it's not him. Dog man has gone down windy country lanes to the river and has let the landshark loose. He shouts up saying one running along the river bank, about half a mile away. Said he's been hiding in the bushes and flown off as soon as he saw the car! Particular comical moment when patrol is rattling on about this lad he's seen and dog man shouts up telling him to shut up and clear the air because it would seem obvious that it's probably the guy sprinting away... 1825: Everyone floods the area all along the river and looks to pen him in. There looks to be a while where he's gone to ground because no one can find him. By this time helicopter is floating around 1840: Patrol shouts up to say one is running past him matching the description but he may just be a jogger seeing as it's a popular jogging route... 1841: Yeah it's him, officer has approached him and he's jumped the barrier towards the river and shouted if you come near me I'll end it. Just as officer says I'm not coming he jumps down a good drop onto the bushes in the river bed and sits up saying he'll go in the water. Intimating all sorts of self harm with rocks but not actually doing anything. 1845: Everyone flying down towards him. Dogs are going in. Chopper is still about. Negotiator on his way. Trumpton on the way with their boat. Paramedics coming as well. Talk about team effort! All we need is for him to jump on a train and BTP can get involved too 1855: We arrive at the end of the river RV point. Discuss tactics with F&R and plan the best course of action. They're saying they can't get their boat in this side of the water due to tide. 1905: Just as all seems lost, out of the blue someone shouts up on the radio one detained. Not sure quite how they managed it but he's been locked up for affray and is on his way in. 1910: F&R and paramedics stood down, back to bed for Trumpton!! 1915: He says he's dropped the knife and axe before even leaving the farm so we head back up to have a look. 2100: Finish searching the farm, we've found the knife but unf not the axe. Seize the knife and pitchfork and head for chinese before it shuts!! 2130: Refs and paperwork back at the station for the days work 2300: Day's work done, start sorting my resignation. Fill the forms and send them to my coordinator. Put all my kit back in my locker and sort that side of things. Book PAVA into property and bag up a coat which got covered in blood when I gave it to a scantily dressed victim of a wounding when he was stood in the cold street at 2am. 2345: Let the door shut behind me without my warrant and access cards. It's a good end to what has been a fantastic experience - I'm going to miss it for until I'm in another force but I've loved my time and can't thank everyone enough for what they've taught me