9 replies to this topic

[NottsSC]

Just came across this on the Nottinghamshire Police website.

It might be interesting to someone looking to join Nott's as a Special


A Special blog - Martin Shepherd's insight into life as a Special

Edited by NottsSC, 18 October 2011 - 12:40 PM.

[here.comes.the.fuzz]

Welcome to the fourm. I shall have a read of your blog in a moment.

Edited by here.comes.the.fuzz, 18 October 2011 - 12:46 PM.

[Sceptre]

Wow. What a gripping night, foot patrol, in a van with some PCSOs and finally the disorder bus for the night-time economy. Without wishing to be offensive or belittling, if this is all a typical Special who's been in for three years does then it's hardly a great advert for Notts SC.

[Iridium]

Have shared this link with the General Discussion froum as well.

Edited by Iridium, 18 October 2011 - 01:13 PM.

[NottsSC]

Welcome to the fourm. I shall have a read of your blog in a moment.

Thanks for the welcome

It's not actually my blog so don't want to take credit for it. Just started using this account and thought I would share the link.

[Iridium]

Wow. What a gripping night, foot patrol, in a van with some PCSOs and finally the disorder bus for the night-time economy. Without wishing to be offensive or belittling, if this is all a typical Special who's been in for three years does then it's hardly a great advert for Notts SC.

Lol! It doesn't seem that bad at all. I've had worse shifts... I can assure you that!

[Sceptre]

Lol! It doesn't seem that bad at all. I've had worse shifts... I can assure you that!

Haven't we all, but if I were a force blogger then I wouldn't be starting my blog with one as it immediately gives the impression that specials are seen as demi-PCSOs consigned to only dealing with disorder or never being permitted to work anything but the simplest jobs unsupervised. I've never spoken to anyone from Notts and perhaps there are quite a lot of well-trained and independent specials who are trusted to go out and work with minimal oversight on some more serious jobs; please tell me if that's the case as I wouldn't want to unfairly criticise all those professional and committed specials.

[Iridium]

Haven't we all, but if I were a force blogger then I wouldn't be starting my blog with one as it immediately gives the impression that specials are seen as demi-PCSOs consigned to only dealing with disorder or never being permitted to work anything but the simplest jobs unsupervised. I've never spoken to anyone from Notts and perhaps there are quite a lot of well-trained and independent specials who are trusted to go out and work with minimal oversight on some more serious jobs; please tell me if that's the case as I wouldn't want to unfairly criticise all those professional and committed specials.

To be honest... I think that Blog entry gives a fairly accurate view of an average tour of duty, in Nottinghamshire at least! Obviously we will attend much bigger incidents (Fatal RTC's etc.) and much smaller ones too (Neighbours arguing).

From a recruitment point of view (and I think that's what the Blog is aimed at) I'm personally glad that it hasn't tried to make being a Special seem like its all fast cars and blue lights. We all know what sort of people that attracts to the role.

I don't know the author personally, but know the team of Specials at Hucknall have won awards for the good work they do, the latest being a Police Authority award (not sure of the exact title).

I suppose he could have edited out the crewing up with the PCSO's bit, but the fact is that you will occasionally crew up with PCSO's (sometimes for a whole shift!) and I'd rather a potential recruit know that in advance rather than finding out, much to there dismay, a few months down the line.

I'll be keeping up with the Blog anyway. It's always interesting to see what others get up to, even on some of the less exiting shifts.

[Prolixia]

Wow. What a gripping night, foot patrol, in a van with some PCSOs and finally the disorder bus for the night-time economy. Without wishing to be offensive or belittling, if this is all a typical Special who's been in for three years does then it's hardly a great advert for Notts SC.

I liked it, and I think that probably is a fairly typical night. I've certainly done many duties that have been far less interesting/exciting (and some that have been much more action-packed, of course).

If anyone reads that and thinks "That sounds rubbish, why would I want to do it?" then they probably wouldn't have enjoyed the specials in any case. I say kudos to Nottinghamshire for describing a realistic shift.

[Iridium]

I liked it, and I think that probably is a fairly typical night. I've certainly done many duties that have been far less interesting/exciting (and some that have been much more action-packed, of course).

If anyone reads that and thinks "That sounds rubbish, why would I want to do it?" then they probably wouldn't have enjoyed the specials in any case. I say kudos to Nottinghamshire for describing a realistic shift.

Agreed.

If someone joins and finds foot patrol and crewing up with PCSO's interesting, the a 'good' shift is going to be a bonus for them!

Just the sort of Specials you would want to employ I guess.