On matters of balance: an examination of the deployment, motivation and management of the Special Constabulary

Abstract

The Special Constabulary – a branch of warranted, uniformed volunteers with full police powers within British police services – has a long history. However, whilst it is an important resource for swelling the size of the warranted police service, it is firmly embedded in the mixed economy of policing and promoted as a practical response to state retrenchment and fiscal constraint; we know very little about the motivations of special constables, how they are deployed within the organisation or the management of this sizable volunteer force. Bringing together extant literature on these matters and drawing on the results of a small empirical study conducted in one English constabulary, this paper draws out implications for the recruitment and retention of special constables, their training and their supervision and oversight. It is argued that at the heart of the challenge of developing effective strategies for deploying, managing and motivating special constables lies the need to balance a series of competing needs. There is a need to balance flexibility, reward and appreciation, recognising that special constables are ‘amateurs’ giving their time for free, against rigour, regulation and ‘professionalism’, recognising the nature of the powers that they hold, that they are representing the police in the community and that their inclusion in the mixed economy of policing is not cost neutral.