West Midlands facing special constables crisis

POLICE are facing a special constables crisis, it was revealed today.

It follows hundreds of resignations which has left the West Midlands force with just a third of the volunteers it had in 2012.

New figures show that 78 officers left the Special Constabulary in 2016 and only two joined.

And as of last month the force had 199 specials – compared to the 568 it had in 2012. In the same five-year period just 96 people were recruited but 461 left.

Chief Constable David Thompson told the Strategic Police and Crime Board that he hoped some of those candidates who fail in the current recruitment push to employ 800 new police officers could be persuaded to volunteer as specials instead.

He also said he hoped any future recruitment would see officers take up posts in specialist areas of the force.

Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson asked about the importance of specials at the meeting last week and said: “Warwickshire is about a seventh of our size, but it has 206 specials, which is 24 per cent of their workforce. Our numbers account for less than three per cent.

“It looks like more want to leave than join, because in 2016 we only recruited two when 78 left.”

Mr Thompson said: “Our specials numbers are quite low at the moment and we do need to increase numbers.

“Recruiting is not a no-cost option. It costs us money in training, uniform and expense.

“As we were going through austerity we did not recruit as many specials, but I would expect to see an upward trend this year.

“We are going through a large phase of recruiting, and there are a lot of people who have come forward who want to be police officers.

“If those people are unsuccessful, I hope we can encourage them into police staff roles, but I also want to use them as a recruiting ground for the Special Constabulary.”