A recruitment event for people interested in joining the Thames Valley Police Special Constabulary is being held in Abingdon today.

Between noon and 2pm, Sgt Tony Maddison and colleagues from the Special Constabulary will be offering advice, support and information packs in the Market Place.

They will then move to Tesco, in Drayton Road, where they will be on hand to talk to shoppers about opportunities to help keep their community safe until 5pm.

Sgt Maddison said: “This is all part of a forcewide recruitment drive to encourage people to join Thames Valley Police as volunteer officers.

“We are going to be there to give an overview of life as a Special and offer the chance to talk to serving volunteer officers about life in the force.

“Currently, recruitment for regular officers is closed and a period of service in the Special Constabulary will enable anyone thinking of becoming a full-time officer to gain real-life experience of policing before applying.

“Once fully trained, most specials will be working on a reactive basis and be crewed with a regular officer to give them the maximum amount of support and experience.”

Volunteer police officers have full powers of arrest and work a minimum of 18 hours a month, providing support for regular officers.

Many help keep their community safe by working in neighbourhood teams and give additional support in town and city centres at weekends or at major events.

Following a successful application, new recruits attend 12 residential weekend training courses at the Thames Valley Police training centre at Sulhamstead. They are then given support in their new role by other serving Specials and regular officers.

  • There are 473 Special Constables in Thames Valley, of which 119 serve in Oxfordshire.