What is a Special Constable?
 The Special Constabulary is the United Kingdom's
part-time police force. It is made up of
members of the public who volunteer to spend some of their time
helping to police their local community. Every "special"
is sworn in at court or in the presence of
a magistrate in the same manner as a full-time
("regular") police officer.
Specials work alongside their regular colleagues
and have the same powers in law, within their area
of jurisdiction. The duties carried out by
a Special Constable vary between forces but
essentially they are the same as those carried
out by any regular police officer.
 There is no average shift but generally specials
will support the regular officers as necessary,
from patrolling on foot or in a car, alone,
with another special, or with a regular.
Specials are likely to get involved in all
aspects of modern policing, including crime prevention, raids and
warrants, special events, football matches, missing person
enquiries, road
traffic accidents (the list goes on!) as well as dealing with crime
such as anti-social behaviour, burglaries, fights and damage.
You can look at an example of a duty here.
 Specials will sometimes be required to attend
court (Magistrates court, or Crown court
which includes a jury). They may be
required to give evidence about arrests they
have made or incidents they were involved
in where a person is being tried for an offence.
The Special Constabulary has grades similar to the ranks of regular police. It used to
be the same nationwide, but was changed some
years ago. Now it's starting to change back again and in many forces
now you will find grades with names such as "special sergeants" and
"special inspectors".
The modern structure is pretty much the same in every force -
although the grade names and insignia may vary, the responsibilities
are broadly the same. Note that some forces do without some of
the intermediate grades, just to add to the confusion!
The uniform of the Special Constable
is nearly identical to that of a regular
police officer, indeed if you have seen or
spoken to (or maybe even been arrested by!)
a police officer recently they may well have
been a Special without you realising it.
Minor uniform differences vary from force
to force but include differentiated collar
numbers and possibly a Special Constabulary
jacket badge, or the letters "SC", sometimes with a crown above it,
on the epaulettes.
In most forces Specials
carry identical kit (baton,
handcuffs, CS spray, etc.) to their regular
colleagues and are provided with access to safety equipment
including stab vests. Different forces carry
varying equipment - for example, some use
a side-handled baton while others use the extending "ASP" baton.
 Specials come from all walks of life and
usually no formal qualifications are required.
You need to be a European Economic Area citizen (or have
unrestricted right to remain in the country), and
you must be at least 18 years and 3 months,
or under 50 at the time of application (this
upper age limit seems to vary between forces,
so check with your chosen police force).
Potential specials need to have reasonable reading and writing
skills, and of course must be
law abiding, respectful of others and community
focused. A healthy dose of common sense is
very much called for too! See our
recruitment information page for more details.
Specials, like all police officers, are likely
to encounter situations which may cause stress
and trauma, so good health and a reasonable
level of fitness is important. Both health
and fitness are assessed during the recruitment
process.
Finally you need to be able to offer commitment
- specials are required to work at least
16 hours per month, but have a fairly free
choice about when to put in these hours. Training is given to allow specials to carry
out their duties and use their powers with
confidence.
The Special Constabulary has been in existence
for literally hundreds of years. For
a potted history of the specials, click here.
If you have questions about being a Special,
check out the question and answer archive or
visit the PoliceSpecials.com
forum.
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