Staffordshire Police has failed to meet its special constable recruitment target, despite taking on more than 50 neighbourhood officers.
The force said last autumn it planned to recruit 53 officers and 15 specials by March as part of the government’s neighbourhood policing guarantee.
While the officer recruitment target has been met, and the force is now exploring recruitment of a further 26 officers in 2026, it has struggled to attract enough new special constables. Panel papers said several members of the existing special constabulary cohort were released from service after a review found they were not meeting the required level of commitment.
Staffordshire Commissioner Ben Adams told members of the police, fire and crime panel the force still wants to recruit more specials, but faces a challenge in finding people able to commit the required time.
Special constables are unpaid volunteers, but have the same powers as regular police officers. They are required to volunteer a minimum of 16 hours a month.
Mr Adams said
“The force are very keen to build up their cohort. I think their ambition is to go way beyond that target and bring even more in. It’s a bit like the situation with on call firefighters, we’re just finding modern life is ever more challenging for people that want to contribute like this. Juggling a job, other commitments with what is now quite a significant commitment as special constable.
“We have lost some specials where they were making every commitment they could, but it wasn’t necessarily what was required by the local police team. So getting that balance right is tricky.”
The government is planning to put an additional 13,000 officers, PCSOs and specials into communities by 2029 under its neighbourhood policing guarantee.
Mr Adams said special constables play an important role, but argued volunteers could not make up for a national shortage of paid officers.
He said
“Special constables do one hell of a job. They don’t get paid, but they have full warranted powers, and sometimes they’re exposed to very difficult circumstances. We appreciate every single one of them that commits to Staffordshire Police.
“But 3,000 or 4,000 volunteers isn’t a way to plug a gap in policing numbers nationally. It isn’t what we need. We need proper, funded officers.”
Mr Adams also said the new neighbourhood officers would not be fully funded by government, meaning some would have to be moved from other roles. He described that as “ludicrous” and called on the government to “stop doing policing from the centre”, allowing forces to decide where officers are deployed.
I
