Developing Volunteers in Policing: Assessing the Potential Volunteer Police Community Police Officer

Community or reassurance policing in the UK has developed concurrently with diversification and expansion of the policing family, including the broadening of volunteer opportunities beyond the traditional Special Constable and Police Support Volunteer roles. To increase capacity and capability in community-based policing, one Force introduced Volunteer Police Community Support Officers (VPCSOs) to complement that of employed PCSOs. This paper presents an exploratory discussion on a small-scale study of a previously un-researched and evolutionary area of police volunteering; evaluating the effectiveness of the VPCSO role reviewing its impact as a means of increasing community connectivity and meeting public demands for visibility policing. The introduction of VPCSOs was seen as successful by the Force involved which continues to develop the role as a useful 'policing resource'. However, challenges to success were identified, not least the uncertainty surrounding the delegation of powers to volunteers that required a change in primary legislation.