Volunteer Police officers to be given the opportunity to be equipped with Taser in a first for Cheshire

Cheshire Constabulary has announced plans to offer its Special Constables the opportunity to be trained in the use of Tasers.

The move positions Cheshire as the first police force in the North West to equip its volunteer officers with Conducted Energy Devices, becoming the seventh force to do so nationwide.

Cheshire’s Special Constabulary is an integral part of frontline policing. They provide essential support to full-time officers, responding to emergency incidents in the community and managing crowds at events such as football matches, Creamfields, and Chester races.

Currently, the force boasts approximately 170 volunteer Special police officers. Many of them have been dedicated to the role for over a decade, playing a pivotal role in enhancing the safety of our county’s streets.

However, despite our volunteer officers having identical powers to their full-time peers, they weren’t authorised to carry a Taser until legislative changes in May of the previous year.

Officers will be provided with the device only after fulfilling the rigorous criteria set by the College of Policing and the Home Office. These standards include at least twelve months of frontline experience, with the officers qualified to patrol without supervision. Additionally, they must be members of the Police Federation, a provision that the force supports.

Special Constables, akin to their full-time colleagues, will be mandated to attend a comprehensive four-day training programme. This ensures they can operate the device safely, adhere to the set standards, and pass the requisite assessments.

Every Taser-trained officer, including our volunteers, will undertake an annual refresher course to maintain their competency with the device.

Special Constabulary Chief Officer Leon Boland, said:

“The Special Constabulary plays a huge part in day-to-day policing here in Cheshire, giving over 5,000 hours a month, our volunteers regularly dedicate incredible amounts of their own time to maintain public and police safety. Our volunteer police officers are professional, highly skilled and trained volunteers who want to give back to their community in a unique way, they come from all backgrounds including, medical professionals, airline pilots, teachers and business owners.

“Specials often attend emergency incidents first, putting themselves in danger alongside full-time officers to protect people in our community. Taser is an important tool available to us in policing and we want to assure the public that our volunteer officers will, quite rightly, be expected to undergo the same rigorous training as their full-time counterparts before they have access to any Conducted Energy Devices.

“We will start to begin the training of Taser to our voluntary officers in a phased approach, this will begin from November and it will now mean that our officers are further able to protect themselves and the general public when dealing with the threat from the small minority of people that wish to cause harm to both the police and the public.”

Assistant Chief Constable Bill Dutton, added:

“With the change in legislation enabling Special Constables to join the police federation, we are able to select the appropriately experienced officers and equip them in this way to give them greater skills to protect the public and themselves from danger.

“Over the last 12 month the support and involvement our volunteer officers receive has increased significantly and we are able to involve them across a broader range of policing challenges, every day.”

The force will be recruiting Special Constables and applications are currently open to anyone who may be interested in the role. To apply, or to find out more about becoming a volunteer police officer, please visit the careers page.​

The deadline for applications is 14 November 2023 for March 2024 start.

[Photo: Northamptonshire Police]