An exploratory international comparison of professional confidence in volunteer policing
| Published date | 01 June 2017 |
| Date | 01 June 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X16671966 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
An exploratory
international comparison
of professional confidence
in volunteer policing
Ross Wolf
University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
Ian Pepper
Teesside University, Middlesbrough, UK
Adam Dobrin
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA
Abstract
Police volunteers are an important asset to communities and policing agencies but have
been relatively understudied. Similar models of police volunteers have developed in the
United States and the United Kingdom but these differ in the level of their preparedness
and training. This current study utilises vignettes to examine the confidence of volunteer
police officers from two agencies, one in the US and one in the UK. Results show that
while both groups in the study are confident in their professional ability to handle issues
at a policing scene, UK volunteer officers feel less confident about interviewing and
administrative paperwork than their US counterparts.
Keywords
Volunteer, police, training, confidence
Introduction
Volunteer law enforcement officers are utilised in many countries throughout the world
as a supplement to regular, paid, full-time police forces. They can be used to stretch tight
budgets and can increase citizen access to resources. Volunteer police can be used for
Corresponding author:
Ross Wolf, University of Central Florida, PO Box 162200, Orlando, FL 32816, USA.
Email: ross.wolf@ucf.edu
The Police Journal:
Theory, Practice and Principles
2017, Vol. 90(2) 91–106
ªThe Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/0032258X16671966
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routine police services, including foot or vehicle patrol, or be trained to work in more
specific police functions, such as marine patrols, emergency response teams or investi-
gative units.
The operational use of volunteer police varies between countries and geographical
jurisdiction: while some use volunteer police in the same way as full-time or regular
police, others use volunteers to act only as eyes and ears for the police and to report
problems in the community (Wolf et al., 2015a). Volunteer police officers are often seen
in current UK policing and in those countries where at some point in history there was a
British influence, including Ireland, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Canada, the Baha-
mas, the Cayman Islands, the United States and New Zealand. However, they can also be
found in other countries, including Hungary, Germany and the Netherlands.
The primary function of volunteer police officers (special constables) across England
and Wales is to support, work alongside and supplement the duties of regular police
officers. As an added benefit, these special constables are also more representative of the
communities that are being policed than are regular officers (Bullock, 2014; Newburn,
2008; Stuart, 2008). Training for special constables is drawn from elements of the
Policing National Curriculum, which is used to create a professi onal framework for
policing. The Initial Learning for the Special Constab ulary (often referred to as the
IL4SC) is traditionally taught over weekends and evenings, equating to around 3 to
4 weeks of full-time training and taking new starters up to the level of accompanied
patrol (College of Policing, 2015). In 2014, there were 72 of these special constables
working within Cleveland Police.
Like special constables in the UK, reserve deputies in Orange County have the same
police powers as their regular police colleagues, wear the same uniforms and carry the
same gear. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) in central Florida had 85
volunteer reserve deputies in 2014. An additional role of these volunteers, however, in
contrast with their UK counterparts, is at times to run fully independent road patrols
(Pepper and Wolf, 2015). The two categories of volunteer reserves with the OCSO in
Florida are required to have a minimum of either 319 hours or 770 hours of training,
respectively (Wolf, 2014).
While modernisation of the UK Special Constabulary has attempted to bring
about standardisation of many aspects of volunteer policing, law enforcement agen-
cies throughout the United States utilise reserve and auxiliary law enforcement
officers differently, with distinct responsibilities. Recent volunteer policing events,
including an accidental shooting of a suspect by a volunteer police officer in April
2015 and the death of a volunteer sheriff’s deputy in a shooting in May 2015, have
ledtoapushforstandardisationintheUS(Wolfet al., 2015a) but little movement
has occurred.
The aim of this current study is to compare and contrast the self-reported confidence
that volunteer police have in approaching potential situations that they may face while in
a policing function. This study looks at the volunteer police services from a northeast UK
police force (Cleveland Police) and a US Central Florida sheriff’s office (Orange
County). Although these two geographical areas are some 4000 miles apart and different
in size, they have many similarities, such as a mixture of urban and rural locations, areas
of high population density and higher than national average crime rates. They have
92 The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles 90(2)
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