Special Constables welcomed into Derbyshire Constabulary

Last night, we welcomed a group of new special constables during a ceremony at our joint police and fire headquarters in Ripley.

Alongside their other commitments, these students began their training back in October, volunteering to come in every weekend to be taught about assaults, traffic, theft, personal safety and first-aid, and many more important policing topics and pieces of legislation.

This was PC Sarah Spencer’s first group of students that she trained since joining as a trainer.

She said: “It has been an honour and privilege to work with this fantastic group of people and they all offer different things in terms of skills, experiences and attributes. I am confident each will be an asset to the organisation in their own way.”

Each special constable swore the oath in front of Justice of the Peace Peter Leatherland, Assistant Chief Constable Kem Mehmet and Police and Crime Commissioner Hardyal Dhindsa, and then each student was presented with a course certificate and their warrant card.

Special constables are volunteer police officers. They have the same police powers, uniforms and equipment as regular police officers but give their free time on a voluntary basis, organising their busy personal lives, day jobs and other commitments around police duties.

We wish them all the best of luck as they now join their policing teams in Derby, Ilkeston, Peartree, Matlock, Ripley, Clay Cross and Swadlincote.