The Special Constabulary is the part-time volunteer section of a statutory police force in the United Kingdom or some Crown dependencies. Its officers are known as special constables (all hold the office of constable no matter what their rank) or informally as specials.
Every United Kingdom territorial police force has a special constabulary except the Police Service of Northern Ireland, which has a Reserve constituted on different grounds. However, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (and previously the Royal Irish Constabulary) did have its own Ulster Special Constabulary from 1920 until 1970, when the Reserve was formed. The British Transport Police (a "special police force") also has a special constabulary. In the Crown dependencies, the Isle of Man Constabulary and the States of Guernsey Police Service also have special constabularies, but the States of Jersey Police does not.
The strength of the special constabulary as of 31 March 2010 in England and Wales was 15,505 and 1,653 in Scotland. Special constables are not the same as police community support officers (PCSOs), who are employed by police forces to provide operational support to regular officers. Special constables usually work for a minimum of 16/25 hours per month (depending on the force - the national minimum is 16 hours), although many do considerably more. Special constables might receive some expenses and allowances from the police service, including a £1,000 "recognition award" in Scotland and some forces in England, but their work is otherwise voluntary and unpaid.
Special constables have identical powers to their regular (full-time) colleagues and work alongside regular police officers, but most special constabularies in England and Wales have their own organisational structure and grading system, which varies from force to force. Special constabularies are headed by a commandant or chief officer, who are themselves special constables. Within Scotland, a number of forces in England and Wales, and the British Transport Police, special constables have no separate administrative structure and no grading system.
Read more about Special Constabulary: History, Application, Uniform and Insignia, Equipment, Duties, Acceptance
Famous quotes containing the words special and/or constabulary:
“We agree fully that the mother and unborn child demand special consideration. But so does the soldier and the man maimed in industry. Industrial conditions that are suitable for a stalwart, young, unmarried woman are certainly not equally suitable to the pregnant woman or the mother of young children. Yet “welfare” laws apply to all women alike. Such blanket legislation is as absurd as fixing industrial conditions for men on a basis of their all being wounded soldiers would be.”
—National Woman’s Party, quoted in Everyone Was Brave. As, ch. 8, by William L. O’Neill (1969)
“When constabulary duty’s to be done,
A policeman’s lot is not a happy one.”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)