Recruiting police support volunteers for their professional knowledge and skills: A pilot study
| Date | 01 September 2021 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X20914676 |
| Author | Paula Light,Demelza Leahy,Ian Pepper |
| Published date | 01 September 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
2021, Vol. 94(3) 282 –297
Article
Recruiting police support
volunteers for their
professional knowledge
and skills: A pilot study
Demelza Leahy
Humberside Police, United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland
Ian Pepper
Criminology, Law and Policing, Teesside University, United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Paula Light
College of Policing, United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland
Abstract
Against a backdrop of austerity, the national ‘Citizens in Policing’ programme aims to
engage the wider community and support the police service. Research conducted across
a single force area identified the level of motivation and barriers to recruiting those with
professional knowledge and skills as police support volunteers. This research study
identified that there is a significant appetite to volunteer as a specialist utilising profes-
sional knowledge and skills; however, there are barriers to applications to volunteer
related to time commitments, lack of professional opportunities available, formal
recognition and the volunteering opportunity descriptions.
Keywords
Police, volunteers, motivations, barriers
Corresponding author:
Ian Pepper, Criminology, Law and Policing, Teesside University, Middlesbrough TS1 3BA, United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Email: h.pepper@tees.ac.uk
The Police Journal:
Theory, Practice and Principles
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DOI: 10.1177/0032258X20914676
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Leahy et al. 283
Introduction
Principally due to austerity, over the last decade, the numbers of both police officers and
police staff have continued to decrease, with the year ending 31 March 2018 showing
only a slight increase in police staff numbers but the lowest number of police officers
since the 1980s (National Statistics, 2018). As a result, the police service has been forced
to examine its role and functions to identify the most efficient and cost-effective methods
of delivering policing whilst balancing the perceived needs of the community and
reducing crime (Fisher and Ritchie, 2015).
Traditionally policing has operated as a ‘customer-focused service’ operating against
a backdrop of Charters, Pledges and Neighbourhood Agreements, and so on. This has
created a level of expectation and accountability on the police that they will respond
equally to every request for service made by the public. Moreover, the remit and
approaches of the police have evolved over the years, meaning that when policing fails
to meet expectations, confidence in the professionalism of the service can be damaged
(Wooden and Rogers, 2014). This is contrary to the intention of policing when attempt-
ing to promote community engagement to relieve some of the increased demands created
by reduced staff numbers whilst also meeting the requirements of expected professional
behaviour (College of Policing, 2014).
The national ‘Citizens in Policing’ (CiP) agenda is seeking to assist in the process of
community engagement and participation by recognising the value of the 500,000 people
who volunteer in various capacities within the police service (College of Policing, 2017).
Wolf (2013) notes that an embedded and robust police volunteer programme could indi-
cate positive community engagement and in turn increased public confidence in policing.
Volunteering is a way for individuals to participate in civic life, foster community well-
being, support democracy and alleviate socialproblems (Bloom and Kilgore, 2003; Clary
and Snyder, 1999) whilst developing their own social capital (College of Policing, 2017).
Kilmartin (1996) summarised how there are a large number of people in the community
with specialist knowledge and skills willing to volunteer to support the police.
Definition of the term volunteering
Although the definition of volunteering is widely debated (Haski-Leventhal et al., 2018),
for the purpose of this research, the UK government’s broad definition of an individual
donating their time and effort without payment for the benefit of others (NCVO, 2018)
was used.
A number of varied voluntary roles are available within the police service. These roles
include special constables (SC), who when on duty have the warranted powers of a
regular police officer and police support volunteers (PSVs), who freely donate their time
to support police officers and staff by performing roles which will free up officers and
staff time. There are 8000 PSVs across England and Wales (Callender et al., 2018b),
who conduct activities such as completing administrative duties, supporting criminal
investigations, monitoring CCTV or engaging with local communities, with other
opportunities identified to match specific skills with voluntary roles available (Citizens
in Policing, 2019).
2The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles XX(X)
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