Special Constables, are volunteer police officers. They have the same police powers, uniforms and equipment as regular police officers. But Special Constables volunteer their time to help people and communities across Bedfordshire.
They don't get paid for their police work but they are reimbursed for expenses. This includes costs like travel.
The Special Constabulary plays an important role in providing additional officers across the county. The Special Constables act as a safe, reassuring presence for the people of Bedfordshire working together to fight crime and keep the people safe. Specials patrol our community, attending crimes, responding to concern of welfares, dealing with traffic incidents.
People join the Special Constabulary for many different reasons, many wanting to give something back to the community. It allows them to learn new skills, see new things and make a tangible difference to the lives of the public they serve.
If you’re 18 or over, and can commit to initial training, then you can help keep your community safe as a Special Constable.
Special constables start their journey with a 15-week training course during evenings and weekends and a full week of Personal Safety Training, where they learn the basics of policing and work towards gaining their warrant card. They will gain an understanding of law, how to deal with different situations and personal safety training. Once the course is completed, they will be awarded their warrant card by a senior member of the force in front of family and friends. After that they will sign up to shifts and work alongside our regular officers to start working with the community and gain the essential practical policing skills. Please be aware that there is a minimum need to work 16 hours per month in this role.
Once they have worked alongside officers and gained a better understanding of policing they will be allocated to a response or community team to help implement warrants, closure orders, work with people in some of the worst moments of their lives and ultimately make Bedfordshire a safer place. There are also many opportunities available to move into specialist areas across the entirety of Bedfordshire Police.
A Special Constable is an extraordinary person, a remarkable person, a special person. Join us and be that person.
The role of Special Constable is open to all applicants. However, certain occupations may mean that you are ineligible to apply for the role of Special Constable. These include, but are not limited to: the regular armed forces, traffic wardens/parking attendants, security/door staff, and on-road Highway Traffic Patrol Officers. Please contact a member of the recruitment team for further information by emailing: recruitment@bch.police.uk
At Bedfordshire Police, we are committed to supporting our workforce while ensuring we can meet the operational needs of the communities we serve. Our policy sets out a clear expectation that officers should live within one hour’s commute of either Bedfordshire Police Headquarters, Kempston, or Luton Police Station.
We recognise, however, that individual circumstances can vary. Where an officer or applicant lives beyond this one-hour commuting time, there is a formal process through which an exception can be requested. Please notify the recruitment team as soon as possible and any such request will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and will require sign-off through the appropriate approval route.
Please note: This role has been identified as high-risk in relation to potential DNA and fingerprint contamination within forensic processes. As such, successful candidates will be required to provide a DNA and fingerprint elimination sample as part of their pre-employment checks.
The sample will be used to conduct a speculative search against our database and then solely for contamination elimination purposes and held on a secure elimination database in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR.
Provision of this sample is a condition of employment for roles identified as high-risk.
