57 replies to this topic

[crunchybits]

I have no issues if the person keeps us up to date and communicates with us. We offer leave of absences etc but when they dont do PST for over a year and become non operational, whats the point?



Okay to answer your points:

Specials can work with response, NPT, Street Crime, Traffic as they please as long as they try and assist with any special duty requests. Our District Commander is fab, he attends our monthly meeting, provided us with a huge locker room, own office, buys the team a christmas hamper, bought personal issue airwaves, covert harnesses, just to name a few. I can honestly say that all regular supervision value Special's and on the One occasion we had an issue it was resolved quickly. The Special's management team and proactive, fully operational and are well liked by SC and regulars. I think apart from a door to door collection service we are as supportive as any other force.

My examples are all drawn from the MPS so the experience across forces varies widely. Part of the reason is that people are far more motivated to join up than they are to leave.

Perhaps part of the answer is to communicate clearly "here is the structured exit process when you wish to leave the service" - we want to learn from your volunteer experiences so people know how to leave rather than you having to force them. There also needs to be a robust structure to dismissing people who have lost interest rather than just letting it drag on which is prevalent in many forces. It is possible to dismiss following the full police procedures in about three months and you can always retain the warrant card on less notice than that. The service is really good at encouraging recruitment and effective human resource management also needs to close that loop. Good people are always welcome back in any organisation...

If people are not deliberately not keeping up with PST you could probably jump all the way to formal dismissal proceedings on that basis without any more evidence gathering. Breech of lawful orders, health and safety act, employment law would tend to back that approach so following the Taylor Reforms you go straight to stage two. There is no point in having 'SPADS' if people don't act on them which is a management failure.

In case anyone is wondering I am a huge advocate of SC and the few 'card holders' who just hang around I find incredibly difficult to reconcile especially as they tend to absorb valuable time from other volunteers to have them leave. That behaviour just demotivates SC supervisors. Maybe these dead enders should be added as crime reports 'theft of warrant card" and arrested by newbies as part of their development ....

Edited by crunchybits, 19 June 2012 - 05:35 PM.

[rosco]

I used to have the same problems and I know that some people have personal problems, work commitments, etc. etc. but if they are not cooperating and think it's all a joke, you have to draw the line somewhere. I know you have to follow HR guidelines, etc. but, in extreme cases I used to do it like this, all formally recorded in writing.

1. Invite them in for an interview with you and a more senior colleague and spell it out in plain terms, giving clear targets and what will happen if they aren't met.
2. When this fails, Invite them in for an interview with you and a more senior colleague and ask them if they would like to resign / final chance to meet targets.
3. When this fails, Invite them in for an interview with you and a more senior colleague and tell them that they have no more chances and you require them to sign a letter of resignation there and then.

Yopur options 1 and 2 are fine, but you cannot impose option 3 just like that: Specials are subject to the same Police Regulations as Regulars (in E&W at least) and thus can be dismissed only by what is listed there.

Do they have a document that outlines "conditions of service" or a contract of any sort? In my 2 years I've never been given a document outlining what's is expected of me in terms of hours, types of duties etc etc, nor have I had any sort of document detailing what I can expect from the force in terms of legal aid if a complaint gets made against me (because the Fed hates SCs), what happens if I get injured, just to name a few things.

Unless you provide people with a clear document which they have to sign that outlines this sort of thing and what SCs can expect from the force, I don't really think you can complain. People have busy lives and will most likely take a weekend of paid overtime before volunteering for duties, but that is the nature of the Special Constabulary, we fit our policing around our families and work.

We have introduced a personal contract that all officers have to sign that lays out the expectations of the Force on them, and them on the Force. That way it is easy to show when they are not doing what they should (even though a lot of it seems obvious).

Edited by rosco, 19 June 2012 - 05:43 PM.

[Derf]

...of course it just could be that for many, joining as a special was perceived to be a rung up on the ladder to joining the regs. Now, due to budget cuts and recruitment freezes, that rug has effectively been pulled from under them and so they have no motivation to carry on (although by not resigning they may still feel they have a foot in the door)

Edited by Derf, 19 June 2012 - 05:46 PM.

[Rocket]

Moving aside the tirade of "Lawful Orders" and demands for written reasons as to why Specials cannot attend duties, I sometimes think that people forget that Specials are volunteers.

People management is a two way street, if you give respect then you will get it back when you need help.

[callsign-kid]

Personally I'm finding keeping up with hours a struggle at the moment. I've started a new job. My timetable is all over the place there. Variable start times, no time off etc. For younger specials, I like to include myself in that bracket, you also have to consider things such as transport issues because a lot of them won't have access to their own transport and public transport is griefy at the best of times. In my position I think its understandable. If people have a good reason, a new set of circumstances come up but they're trying and their engaging I think its a very different issue to doing doing nothing.

[crunchybits]

Moving aside the tirade of "Lawful Orders" and demands for written reasons as to why Specials cannot attend duties, I sometimes think that people forget that Specials are volunteers.

People management is a two way street, if you give respect then you will get it back when you need help.

We are not talking about duties as lets face it volunteers have the privilege of voting with their feet and choosing the duties that they want to perform. <Lots of regulars forget that one...> SC add workforce flexability into a constrained labour resource and the service gets exceedingly good value for money. If officers don't attend mandatory training then they become a liability and they place any supervisor in an impossible situation. If you fail to take action and it goes south which it will then they have effectively failed to take control of the situation -clue is in the name 'mandatory'

In terms of hours then providing SC are meeting their annualised hours commitment then personally I would let them crack on with whatever they are doing. The service are getting a resource at well below minimum wage who is subject to the formal discipline codes of the regular service with few of their protections in place (Fed reps etc>). It's a win win for all concerned but from where I sit I feel that the service is getting an absolute bargain.

[The Constable]

I have no issues if the person keeps us up to date and communicates with us. We offer leave of absences etc but when they dont do PST for over a year and become non operational, whats the point?



Okay to answer your points:

Specials can work with response, NPT, Street Crime, Traffic as they please as long as they try and assist with any special duty requests. Our District Commander is fab, he attends our monthly meeting, provided us with a huge locker room, own office, buys the team a christmas hamper, bought personal issue airwaves, covert harnesses, just to name a few. I can honestly say that all regular supervision value Special's and on the One occasion we had an issue it was resolved quickly. The Special's management team and proactive, fully operational and are well liked by SC and regulars. I think apart from a door to door collection service we are as supportive as any other force.

Please tell me what borough this is mate. PM me if you have to!!!

[Asimov]

Agree with crunchybits' posts, especially the importance of managing Specials on the higher ends of Maslow's hierarchy. The force is getting a bargain with Specials - *provided they are properly managed* - they are obviously not getting much out of Specials who don't turn up for 6 months.

While I do agree that some Specials take the proverbial, I think the whole picture needs to be looked at:

a) As crunchybits pointed out - need to consider how Specials are being managed and used and whether attendance has dropped off because the duties aren't fun any more or they only get allowed to do boring stuff. This is hard, time consuming work. Of course, well managed Specials will be happy to help out with boring stuff occasionally because they are generally happy in their roles - but not *all* the time.

b) Once that overarching issue has been addressed, for any Specials who still aren't doing their bit, I think more than hours (which could be down due to various legitimate reasons), the real danger sign is a lack of communication - not doing hours is one thing (it's bad but there may be reasons for it) but not communicating about it - especially over a long period of time - is really quite unforgivable I think. For people like that, some kind of exit process is needed.

c) I do think 3 months is too short as a hard limit as several people have said. I think 6 months is more like it although managers should have some discretion to start dismissal proceedings earlier (eg, if there has been absolutely no communication etc). And of course you need to keep OST/ELS training etc up to date.

d) I don't understand where all this "16 hours every month" stuff comes from - we signed up for 200 hours a year, which is expressed as 16 hours a month, but my understanding (I could be wrong) is that you are judged on the annual figure, not the monthly oneI remember reading that the 200 hours is assessed on a quarterly basis, but I don't know if that's binding or just a convention). If that is true, then you can't really question someone for not doing any shifts for a month or two - as long as they're hitting (or expected to hit) 200 hours/year.

But really - a lot of this stuff is down to judgment on management's part and cannot be reduced to rules (beyond a point). There is (for example) a vast difference between (a) a new Special who does one aid, one neighbourhood patrol and then vanishes for 3 months with limited communication and (b) a Special with 2 years of service exceeding target hours and well-integrated with both other Specials and Regulars, who vanishes for 3 months because his wife gives birth...

Jonathan: I don't think very special is in the Met (the terms he uses aren't common in Metland - "NPT", "District Commander" etc)

[Dave SYP]

Yopur options 1 and 2 are fine, but you cannot impose option 3 just like that: Specials are subject to the same Police Regulations as Regulars (in E&W at least) and thus can be dismissed only by what is listed there.


We have introduced a personal contract that all officers have to sign that lays out the expectations of the Force on them, and them on the Force. That way it is easy to show when they are not doing what they should (even though a lot of it seems obvious).

All purely academic now as I did impose it at the time, some 20 years ago. HR rules were a bit woolly then regarding SC's, so some firm ground rules had to be formulated. To have a protracted procedure in place for this only compounds the problem, you can't keep going over old ground. Granted, there are extreme cases where, as I have said in previous posts, flexilility, cooperation and sometimes compassion has to be shown. In the majority of cases there needs to be a more efficient and speedier resolution.

[Pellucid]

I think it does boil down to how much time and other responsibilities people have, however it would seem negligent to allow someone who hasn't been attending Police Safety Classes or kept up with procedures to return. At the moment I get the benefit of a shift pattern, where every 3 weeks I only work 5 days out of 10 (2 business weeks), so ill be looking to put 1 or 2 of those days to use, I also want to police every other Friday/Sat nights, it'll not only save me money but will stop me from wasting time doing other things. This will obviously be helpful for me if I actually manage to pass!

Edited by Pellucid, 20 June 2012 - 07:45 AM.

[stamp monkey]

Morning all,

Just thought I add my two penneth (bit of a whinge/rant but try and bear with me (finished nights this morning)
I am a Special with BTP and was sworn in, in Feb 2010. Since that time I have pretty much kept up with my hours and although there have been a couple of months where I was under the magic "16 hours" I have done more subsequent to this to make up the difference. I have a day job that involves the full range of shift working (just like the Police) and is subject to VERY similar restrictions regarding things such as cancelled and re-rostered rest days etc.

In addition to all the above I also am required to arrest suspects (in the day job) do prisoner escorts, bed watches, do various searches (including strip searches) under P.A.C.E and other legislation. I have to use PNC and other systems to obtain information and intel' regarding suspects and have regular contact with "other agencies" often acting on their behalf to arrest suspects and, or, obtain further intel'.
I deal, on an almost daily basis, with criminals (or suspects) that are involved in crimes that would get others a promotion (or a transfer to some specialist "squad") NB I would like to add that not all suspects are arrested and not all that are arrested are charged. However, those that are charged and found guilty receive substantial sentences.

But, as a Special, I am posted on a NPT where I am struggling to get anything more than a S.1 PACE or S.23 MoDA search. I have little or no chance of obtaining my IPS within the two year period (unless I happen to chance upon Lord Lucan robbing a minor royal at knifepoint whilst mainlining a kilo of brown and travelling on a stolen freedom pass)

None of my day job experience counts towards my IPS despite the glaring similarities which includes full PACE custody suite procedures (just not Police custody) On top of all this there are now severe restrictions on my rest days and annual leave because we are having some kind of world-wide sports day this summer? My hours are going to suffer and to add insult to injury I will probably be put on some sort of PDP in order to obtain IPS.
So, when I do manage to get a duty in, it would be nice if I could do something that's likely to lead to...something. You can't manufacture jobs, I appreciate this, but if you need to get people to IPS standard why not deploy them accordingly. There is nothing wrong with NPT (or SNT in Met Land) it is important and needs to be done but, if you need officers to gain experience and confidence, you need to expose them to those situations that will lead to it.

BTW I am currently out of ticket for PST (since Jan this year) Why? Because when I, and about 15 others, turned up for our refresher it was cancelled on the day because someone forgot to arrange for the second instructor to actually turn up. Although there have been several courses since then I have been at work and unable to take leave to attend. I have one this weekend and hopefully it will go ahead.

So, should I be kicked out or disciplined?

NB: Please don't ask me to say what the day job is (even if you can guess) on an open forum (my PSD dept' DOES monitor this site) and, if I don't already know you, I won't answer a PM regarding it either. Sorry, but I hope you will all understand. RANT ENDS............(probably)
Stay safe people.

[Dave SYP]

Morning all,

Just thought I add my two penneth (bit of a whinge/rant but try and bear with me (finished nights this morning)
I am a Special with BTP and was sworn in, in Feb 2010. Since that time I have pretty much kept up with my hours and although there have been a couple of months where I was under the magic "16 hours" I have done more subsequent to this to make up the difference. I have a day job that involves the full range of shift working (just like the Police) and is subject to VERY similar restrictions regarding things such as cancelled and re-rostered rest days etc.

In addition to all the above I also am required to arrest suspects (in the day job) do prisoner escorts, bed watches, do various searches (including strip searches) under P.A.C.E and other legislation. I have to use PNC and other systems to obtain information and intel' regarding suspects and have regular contact with "other agencies" often acting on their behalf to arrest suspects and, or, obtain further intel'.
I deal, on an almost daily basis, with criminals (or suspects) that are involved in crimes that would get others a promotion (or a transfer to some specialist "squad") NB I would like to add that not all suspects are arrested and not all that are arrested are charged. However, those that are charged and found guilty receive substantial sentences.

But, as a Special, I am posted on a NPT where I am struggling to get anything more than a S.1 PACE or S.23 MoDA search. I have little or no chance of obtaining my IPS within the two year period (unless I happen to chance upon Lord Lucan robbing a minor royal at knifepoint whilst mainlining a kilo of brown and travelling on a stolen freedom pass)

None of my day job experience counts towards my IPS despite the glaring similarities which includes full PACE custody suite procedures (just not Police custody) On top of all this there are now severe restrictions on my rest days and annual leave because we are having some kind of world-wide sports day this summer? My hours are going to suffer and to add insult to injury I will probably be put on some sort of PDP in order to obtain IPS.
So, when I do manage to get a duty in, it would be nice if I could do something that's likely to lead to...something. You can't manufacture jobs, I appreciate this, but if you need to get people to IPS standard why not deploy them accordingly. There is nothing wrong with NPT (or SNT in Met Land) it is important and needs to be done but, if you need officers to gain experience and confidence, you need to expose them to those situations that will lead to it.

BTW I am currently out of ticket for PST (since Jan this year) Why? Because when I, and about 15 others, turned up for our refresher it was cancelled on the day because someone forgot to arrange for the second instructor to actually turn up. Although there have been several courses since then I have been at work and unable to take leave to attend. I have one this weekend and hopefully it will go ahead.

So, should I be kicked out or disciplined?

NB: Please don't ask me to say what the day job is (even if you can guess) on an open forum (my PSD dept' DOES monitor this site) and, if I don't already know you, I won't answer a PM regarding it either. Sorry, but I hope you will all understand. RANT ENDS............(probably)
Stay safe people.

It sounds like your experience and knowledge are being 'under-used' and I think you should qualify to be moving to a position with more responsibility within the special constabulary. Your supervisors should recognise this and act accordingly. Perhaps a chat with them / HR might prompt some action?

[crunchybits]

Agree with crunchybits' posts, especially the importance of managing Specials on the higher ends of Maslow's hierarchy. The force is getting a bargain with Specials - *provided they are properly managed* - they are obviously not getting much out of Specials who don't turn up for 6 months.

While I do agree that some Specials take the proverbial, I think the whole picture needs to be looked at:

a) As crunchybits pointed out - need to consider how Specials are being managed and used and whether attendance has dropped off because the duties aren't fun any more or they only get allowed to do boring stuff. This is hard, time consuming work. Of course, well managed Specials will be happy to help out with boring stuff occasionally because they are generally happy in their roles - but not *all* the time.

b) Once that overarching issue has been addressed, for any Specials who still aren't doing their bit, I think more than hours (which could be down due to various legitimate reasons), the real danger sign is a lack of communication - not doing hours is one thing (it's bad but there may be reasons for it) but not communicating about it - especially over a long period of time - is really quite unforgivable I think. For people like that, some kind of exit process is needed.


Jonathan: I don't think very special is in the Met (the terms he uses aren't common in Metland - "NPT", "District Commander" etc)

It's not hard time consuming work to establish why significant numbers of SC are not doing their hours in the MPS. There are 32 BOCUs and a common set of performance metrics. If you take the BOCUs who are in the top five /bottom five and the five biggest changes in performance over the last two years in the MPS and just ask them (MSC lead and MSC Base Managers - subset of their officers) how they manage their MSC. It becomes very easy to correlate management behaviour to SC performance. It becomes really interesting when you look at the biggest changes. The reports are published online in the MPS - it's not a difficult analysis to perform.

How to take action on those results is a much more interesting conversation.

Edited by crunchybits, 20 June 2012 - 09:35 AM.

[Dale-Staffs]

Those that have not been turning up for over 6 months have the potential to become liabilities when they do decide to turn up. They won't be current with up to date legislation / proceedures etc.

I too spend many hours chasing up those who never return my calls / texts / emails. They have now been told they will not be operational until such time as they are current with training (Personal safety etc). This then is seen by them as a negative factor and puts them off further from turning up.
My view is that as Personal responsibility is a key factor of policing, how can I consider letting someone out on the streets who isn't prepared to take some personal responsibility?
Granted you need to know when to use the carrot and when to use the stick, but sure as eggs are eggs, I'm not going to reward someone or bribe someone with 'glory jobs' if they haven't been in for some time.
I also get frustrated when specials try to hide behind the fact they are volunteers. Granted, i accept they give their time freely, but with that comes a promise of some sort of comitment.

Well said.I whole heartedly agree.D

[Dale-Staffs]

Do they have a document that outlines "conditions of service" or a contract of any sort? In my 2 years I've never been given a document outlining what's is expected of me in terms of hours, types of duties etc etc, nor have I had any sort of document detailing what I can expect from the force in terms of legal aid if a complaint gets made against me (because the Fed hates SCs), what happens if I get injured, just to name a few things.

Unless you provide people with a clear document which they have to sign that outlines this sort of thing and what SCs can expect from the force, I don't really think you can complain. People have busy lives and will most likely take a weekend of paid overtime before volunteering for duties, but that is the nature of the Special Constabulary, we fit our policing around our families and work.

I'm sorry jeebs but thats sounds like a cop out! you can not hide the fact that you agreed to do 16 hours per month when you joined up. Do you have to have to have a document for everything you are required to do whilst on duty? as a Special Constable you are in a position of enormous responsibility and one of the core competencies is personal responsibility, the way I see it is if you are not sure of the hours you agreed to do when you joined up you should take the responsibility to find out and then take the responsibility to ensure you honour that agreement and if you can not or will not then take the responsibility to resign and make space for someone who will take that responsibility.D

[Mr So Special]

How many forces require 16 hours per month? My force asks for 196 hours per YEAR. I'm on holiday next week for 3 weeks nearly, to do the 16 hours in a week and a half would be a chore, but I don't have to worry, I have been going a long shift or so a week, 6 to 7 hours at a time and there's no issues (Married, with wife and a small child), as I will be putting in more than the minimum when spreading my hours over the course of a year.

What do officers do on shifts? Our Response is combined with Neighbourhood policing, on top of that, the Reg Sgt and S/Sgt will always try to pair a Special up with a reg. So one shift you might be knocking around the local estates after statements, the next flying along to a responce call for a drug deal. I've been told another local force tends to have Specials doing PCSO type work and neighbourhood stuff. I do enjoy what I do (all be it quite new) but it is helped by the fact one shift I'm out with the S/Sgt, and the next a reg who's done 12 years. It gives the feeling that after 10 years in the role, I know I'll still come across new situations and that's what makes me feel that I could play this role for a good period of time. I don't need to try my hardest to get on training courses that I can't attend because I'm in my day job, I can learning something new on every shift.

Maybe then it comes to motivation. I can only think of two things in this area - Knowledge that will improve a person's skills for their day job / possibly help with promotion, or money, E.g. a yearly bounty or similar.

One point I raised with my S/Sgt was a system to tell people when you are not avaliable, mainly for holidays / exams etc. Showing that you're not just bunking off and can't be bothered, but you do have some sort of family issues or similar going on and that you've not forgotten what that role you wanted to do was.

But I agree, if you've not been there for 6 months, no contact, you should be pencilled out. It also gives the forces the wrong figures for the amount of officers that they have.

[Derf]

Why is it on a lot of threads on this forum, people dismiss all common sense? It seems to becoming more prevalent.

No one in their right mind will pull someone up for not doing 16 hours one or two months if they've previously been doing in excess of the minimum! courtesy would probably dictate that officer would let you know if their circumstances had temporarily changed, but the odd blip here and there can be overlooked if taken in context of the annual amount.
My attitude is, so long as the officer is doing their minimum annual hours, is proficient and current with their knowledge base, experience and training, when they decide to do their hours is up to them.
I as a first line supervisor, would make contact if unfamiliar patterns emerged in what was a regular performance pattern from a welfare perspective. It is at that point all would become apparent and I'd leave them to it.

I'll use my own personal circumstances as an example; I am a single father of 4 children, I fit my policing duties in around them. Last weekend I went to a handshake type presentation as a way of thanks for all those Specials that far exceeded their minimum hours for 2011. this month my hours are down (i've just scraped together 16) usually I do 25 - 30 a month. Half term has effected my ability to go in for a week and a half. I perform zero hours throughout August due to the school holidays, no one is going to have a go at me for not doing my minimum hours for August if I'm averaging over 450 for the year.

Another issue I have found crops up is those that perform very few and sporadic duties yet due to them not booking off duty at the end of a shift, would show on a spreadsheet as putting in the hours.

[Jeebs]

I'm sorry jeebs but thats sounds like a cop out! you can not hide the fact that you agreed to do 16 hours per month when you joined up. Do you have to have to have a document for everything you are required to do whilst on duty? as a Special Constable you are in a position of enormous responsibility and one of the core competencies is personal responsibility, the way I see it is if you are not sure of the hours you agreed to do when you joined up you should take the responsibility to find out and then take the responsibility to ensure you honour that agreement and if you can not or will not then take the responsibility to resign and make space for someone who will take that responsibility.D

A position of enormous responsibility, with non of the protection of our regular colleagues, you need to remember that we are not represented by the Fed and can't really turn to them for help if we are unfairly dismissed etc etc.

You have a contact or conditions of service in your day job, don't you? Infact it's illigal for you not to have one, why should it be any different for your work as a Special, considering what we do.

What I've said isn't a cop out and I think your quite naive to think that. Considering we give up out time for nothing, the least our forces can do for us is provide a clear list of what they expect from us and what we can expect from them. If they do this, getting rid of those who don't pull their weight etc is far easier.

[Derf]

A position of enormous responsibility, with non of the protection of our regular colleagues, you need to remember that we are not represented by the Fed and can't really turn to them for help if we are unfairly dismissed etc etc.

You have a contact or conditions of service in your day job, don't you? Infact it's illigal for you not to have one, why should it be any different for your work as a Special, considering what we do.

What I've said isn't a cop out and I think your quite naive to think that. Considering we give up out time for nothing, the least our forces can do for us is provide a clear list of what they expect from us and what we can expect from them. If they do this, getting rid of those who don't pull their weight etc is far easier.

In the last 12 months, we've implemented Conditions of service. All those that haven't signed it are in the main those that haven't been in much / ever and whose's futures are being discussed.
It's a very good tool to have in the box

Edited by Derf, 20 June 2012 - 11:44 AM.

[crunchybits]

Why is it on a lot of threads on this forum, people dismiss all common sense? It seems to becoming more prevalent.

No one in their right mind will pull someone up for not doing 16 hours one or two months if they've previously been doing in excess of the minimum! courtesy would probably dictate that officer would let you know if their circumstances had temporarily changed, but the odd blip here and there can be overlooked if taken in context of the annual amount.

You might find that certain regular officers would and have pulled someone up for not doing '16 hours per month' regardless. One of the changes in the MPS over the last couple of years was the introduction of regular Base Managers who came into that role being good regular supervisors. Often with minimal understanding of managing volunteers in the long term they would exhibit behaviours that are fine in the regular service but may serve to undermine volunteers.

The ability to manage volunteers for performance is an unappreciated endeavour. The service is not alone in this respect but policing as a system has a few more challenges than say the Army which also has an extensive volunteer group. I guess most people have never heard of Baha Mousa http://www.guardian....ow-british-army whereas the Tomlinson trial is currently getting massive coverage.

The challenge for maintaining the ongoing volunteer support for both organisations is key. In contrast to other organisations team support 'regimental loyalty' is more widely available than the police dynamic which in turn plays out in people's behaviour.

Edited by crunchybits, 20 June 2012 - 12:48 PM.

[Derf]

You might find that certain regular officers would and have pulled someone up for not doing '16 hours per month' regardless.

In Dorset it would have nothing to do with any regular officer!
If a reg pulled me up for not doing 16 hours one month, i know what i would say to them...

Often with minimal understanding of managing volunteers in the long term they would exhibit behaviours that are fine in the regular service but may serve to undermine volunteers.

I'm seeing this in part with the implement of IL4SC

[Rocket]

I'm seeing this in part with the implement of IL4SC

I completely agree with you there, I'm seeing the same thing.

[Mr So Special]

You might find that certain regular officers would and have pulled someone up for not doing '16 hours per month' regardless.

That covers regular officers that are aware of how many hours Specials are supposed to do and that can track how many hours some Special's do time wise. That's why there's Special Sgt's and Inspectors.
I know officers that do still ask how many hours we're supposed to do, others have a specialwith them and crack to do a job together, they don't always worry / or question / or know if that officer hasn't been on duty for a month

[andrew1979]

Interesting topic this. I've just taken over as an Acting S/Insp and it's one of the issues I've been looking at. We've come up with an "action plan" which is similar to what some other areas in our force have used. If a Special is showing less than 16 hours for 3 months they are invited in with their S/Sgt and one of the S/Insps to discuss the issue. If it's something personal (e.g. death/illness in the family, injury, temporary change in hours/workload at work etc) then a leave of absence can be granted and then a "return to work" type of programme agreed. For anything else then the action plan can be used where it sets out why that SC has not felt able to do their hours, what their targets are (along with timescales) and (perhaps most importantly) what support they need. They then sign the document and we sign the document. We then run the action plan and review it at the agreed point. If they meet the targets then brilliant, if not then we discuss if continuing in the Special Constabulary is for them.

It is all about communication though - in the past people haven't done their hours and not told their S/Sgt, but in the same vein the S/Sgt hasn't contacted the SC and asked them why they're not coming in.

[very special]

Please tell me what borough this is mate. PM me if you have to!!!

Cleveland, my district is Hartlepool.