Episode 11 The Specials

Get out on the floor, do it now!

The Special Constabulary is the nation's volunteer police force.

-Do you know the gent?

-Watch your speed.

It's made up of over 20,000 members of the public...

Ah, he's gone down there.

..who give their time to fight crime in their communities.

Get out the car. Get out of the car!

Specials combine their day jobs...

Stage, please!

-..and home lives...

-There's a good boy.

..with being serving police officers on the front line.

Coming up, Gary joins a plainclothes operation to hunt down a burglar.

Hello, it's the police. Could you come to the door, please?

..Susan deals with an unlikely shoplifter...

I've never come across a shoplifter before who was a pensioner.

..and tempers are frayed, as Harvey investigates an alleged assault.

-BLEEP.

-Why don't you just shut up?

-Cool.

Tonight, Acting Special Inspector Harvey Barker

and Special Sergeant Andrew Lawrence are on patrol in Ely town centre,

a typically quiet neighbourhood, except, that is, on a Friday night.

This street is where the majority of the trouble is locally.

You have the two clubs which open and close

within short succession of each other and you've got

a kebab shop and a taxi rank, which is pretty much a recipe for disaster.

So, there's usually a fight between the kebab shop and the taxi rank.

It can get quite explosive, but usually just

a bit of presence and you can get rid of them.

Lots of talking. Little fighting, unless we have to.

After working with each other for over two years,

the officers have developed a very special bond.

Our back-up has just arrived...

It's the Flying Squad. Seriously, lads, we haven't got anything.

The banter is really important.

If you didn't have that element of camaraderie and banter,

everything would be twice as long and twice as boring.

I love working with Andrew.

He's a cracking bloke, he's just fantastic.

Great sense of humour.

He's old and past it now,

but apart from that, he's fantastic.

I'll need to empty my bag soon.

Yeah, sorry, Dad.

-I suppose we could go down Jubilee Gardens.

-You old romantic.

You don't take me out for meals any more. You used to.

You take me for granted.

For his day job, Harvey is an IT support consultant.

We have a joke in the office -

if something doesn't get done right, no-one is going to die.

When you're a Special, you don't know what's going to happen.

He became a Special four years ago

and has worked his way up to Acting Special Inspector.

It's something I like doing.

If there's someone there who needs us

and there aren't a number of people to do it,

someone has to go.

If not me, who?

Back on the beat,

Harvey and Andrew have received a call about a disturbance nearby.

Echo November nine-one, we're in the area on foot, do you want us to go?

We had a call to say a male had been assaulted in his house

at the front door.

We were round the corner, on foot, so we legged it to the property.

When they arrive, officers are already on the scene

and speaking to the injured man.

When we arrived at the house, there was a male covered in blood.

The victim knew his assailant and named them.

The injured man gives the officers the name of the person

who allegedly assaulted him.

Ricky, we'll go off and do an area search.

I put it up on the airwave and one of my colleagues said,

"Oh, I know who that is and I know where he hangs out," and we were

round the corner,

so as soon as we knew roughly where he went,

it was a quick process to get round the corner

and close on that area as quickly as possible.

If it's the person we think it is, they tend to

congregate round here, at the back of the playing field.

So we can get some officers down here and maybe contain it.

Have a look and see what's down here.

Just have a look.

We saw three figures we immediately thought were male,

so we shouted for them to stop...

Police officers!

..and they took off.

There were three of them,

so already, I'm thinking, "OK, we're outnumbered."

I did call for back-up at that particular occasion.

We closed with them,

got hands on them as quickly as possible and tried to identify them.

All right, guys, hands out of your pockets, please.

Where we can see them.

Harvey and Andrew apprehend three young men.

Let's just do this the simple way.

Back-up is on its way.

But, for now, the Specials are alone

and need to keep control of the situation.

Take your hands out of your pockets mate, you make me nervous.

Remaining calm and collected, Harvey and Andrew take their details.

What's your name?

One of them is the suspect named by the injured man at the house.

There a communication between you and your partner

and you think, "Yeah this is the guy we are after."

Back-up arrives as one man is released.

-See you later, boys.

-How come he gets to go?

..and the Specials are quick to secure the other two suspects.

Just get the cuffs on quick, detain them, stop them from legging it

or causing us any grief.

One of the suspects was not chuffed.

BLEEP

Calm down and we'll get it sorted.

-How about you

-BLEEP

-off?

Why don't you just shut up?

He was not a happy bunny. He was swearing and being quite aggressive

and that's quite often a distraction.

In the back of your mind,

if they're kicking off,

it's because they've sometimes got something to hide

or they're trying to throw you off the scent.

-Calm it down.

-These handcuffs aren't going to be on forever.

And then what you going to do?

Nothing, I'm not threatening,

I'm just saying, these handcuffs aren't going to be on forever.

Threatening or not, the suspects still have to be searched.

-Stop

-BLEEP

-rubbing me. I'm not

-BLEEP

-gay.

And being searched causes one of the suspects to verbally abuse

the Specials even more.

As a Special, Harvey knows he must carefully read the situation

to make the correct judgement call.

You try and calm them down.

They'll peak at some point and it's trying to assess when the peak is.

Wait until they've peaked. And then they'll naturally calm down.

You never let someone get the better of you,

you never let someone draw you out.

Its just not the way it works.

Going to rub you up the way you rubbed me up?

BLEEP

You had a good old grope, didn't you?

Harvey knows the worst thing he could do is take the bait

and lose his temper.

I'm big enough and ugly enough to look after myself.

They can throw all the abuse at me they like.

But it doesn't bother me.

You were definitely bullied at school, weren't you?

Did they beat you silly?

When I was a kid, I'd never have backchatted a police officer.

I'd have got a clip around the ear. We've really, really lost that.

One of the suspects, who has been named by the injured

man in the house, starts talking about what's been going on.

He punched me first. See them people over there?

There's about 20 people up there and every single one of them

will say he punched me first.

He rang me up...

Sssshhhhhh.

Stop now, tell us about it later.

I'm the victim! I'm here with these silly things on.

Listen, listen. Wait.

The Specials try to calm the man and encourage him to wait

until he's being interviewed at the police station

to give his version of events.

If they want to start blabbing and want me to take notes,

that's not my priority.

My priority is contain the situation,

make sure they don't get away from me and cause anyone any harm.

A car arrives to take the two suspects to custody...

..where they're searched again and booked in.

Their clothes are also taken.

I take it you're going to want to seize his clothing

-for evidential reasons?

-Yes.

I've seen the whole spectrum in custody.

I've seen people crying, people wet themselves

and I have seen people pull a weapon or go for the sergeant.

I've seen the panic alarm pushed. I've seen everything in custody.

It never ceases to amaze me,

really, everyone's different, every situation is different.

Thankfully, the suspect who was agitated

and swearing has now calmed down.

What's wrong with that?

I was going to say you could start a trend.

I don't know, are these supposed to be a small?

I'm not sure they're really your size, in particular.

I think that they're your size.

"No," he says!

After taking statements from all sides, it was

decided there was insufficient evidence and the case was dropped.

You can't treat everyone as a criminal or as a scumbag.

We meet people who are unpleasant, we arrest people all the time,

but you have to treat everyone with respect.

Every second of Harvey and Andrew's shift has been volunteered free of charge.

And tonight's incident proves the Specials aren't just

an important part of our police force - they're essential.

We're needed.

There are a lot of people who I hear say,

"Do we really need volunteers in this day and age?

"Just get more regular officers on the streets.

But at the same time, on a Friday night, sometimes

when we go out, we'll double

the number of officers on the street.

And you wouldn't get that if you didn't have the Specials.

Someone has to do it. Why not us?

Specials are unpaid volunteers who work alone or alongside

the regular police to fight crime in their communities.

I don't want to see you walking on the main road again.

-Come on.

-Recovery's obviously en route.

Specials are not police community support officers.

They are fully-fledged members of the police force, who have

the same powers in law as their paid colleagues,

including the power of arrest.

-Stop it!

-Move over.

No, no, no, no!

Within many Special Constabularies, officers can rise through

the ranks from Constable all the way up to Chief Specials Officer.

Ouch, I found a thorn.

Let me remind you, you're under arrest, anything you say will be written down.

Specials usually work 16 hours a month or more as volunteers

and undertake all kinds of duties, from policing community events

to arresting hardened criminals.

8:30 on a cold winter's morning.

Special Inspector Gary Cowling is working with the Impact Team,

a plainclothes unit who focus on tracking down known criminals.

The Impact Team in Peterborough is based around following

and monitoring people they know commit crime.

They're constantly looking for people they know are wanted.

Gary is crewed up with regular officer PC Craig Trevor,

and today they are after a burglar who has stolen from commercial

premises over the Christmas period.

Officers investigating the case have found DNA evidence -

blood left on a bike at the scene of the burglary.

DNA is great evidence, because of the way it's unique.

It's impossible to say it's somebody else's.

It's a good part of the start of any investigation.

The Impact Team are a plainclothes unit.

They have a list of the suspected burglars' known associates

and their addresses.

Today's search is a process of elimination -

visiting each address, looking for clues.

We first went to see a person at a location where this male

isn't allowed to go into.

We did believe the male may have been there.

When we got there, PC Trevor went to the front door,

I went round the back to make sure he didn't escape over the back.

The officers are hoping the suspect is staying

with a friend at this house.

They know someone is in,

but they're not sure if it's the man they are after.

Because it's not his registered address, our powers of entry

are very limited.

The bedroom where he should be sleeping, the window is open

so there's going to be someone in there.

We'll just see what reaction we get

when Craig knocks on the front door.

Gary waits for signs of movement while Craig investigates inside.

In a situation like that,

you are hoping the male will come that way. Everybody likes to get

the arrest, everybody likes to deal with the person you're after..

So an ideal situation for me would be the male coming out of

a back window or a back door, I would have then got the arrest.

I could have then dealt with it.

That back bedroom window's open

but I've not seen any movement. Don't know what you've got at the front.

Over the radio, Craig confirms the suspect is not at the address...

-Yes, yes we'll come round.

-..but someone who knows him is.

We told the person that it would be better if he handed himself in.

We explained it would be dealt with a lot more quickly

and we made it clear we had a whole team working on finding

this male and that we wouldn't stop until we had found him.

We've got a few more locations where he might be,

so we can carry on looking.

One address down and no arrest.

For his day job, Gary is the manager of his local supermarket.

My day-to-day job is about customer service and leading staff.

That's £2.38, please.

He became a Special nine years ago, when his boss became

a regular officer and persuaded him to volunteer.

I saw at the time that it would give me better prospects at work.

I wanted to become higher up in the management chain and knew that

joining as a Special would improve my people skills,

my management skills and my leadership skills.

When I signed up to join, I was still at that unsure stage whether I'd like it or not.

As soon as I started the training, it had become a passion.

Juggling his day job, volunteering, and home life with fiancee Hayley

is a real challenge for Gary and one which is about to get a lot harder.

Myself and Hayley are expecting a baby,

which is due in four weeks' time.

It's the first child for both of us,

however, it will have an impact on my Specialing duties.

It is nice to think that what he does will, long-term,

make our community a safer place

and obviously bringing a baby into that community

is ideal for what we really want.

It will be more difficult. I'll balance a job, the Specialing,

a partner and a child, so I'll have an extra element to balance.

I don't intend to give it up. I just hope I can balance it all properly.

On the burglar's trail, Gary and Craig have a possible breakthrough.

My colleague has spotted a car which is known to the Impact Team

to transport people who do burgling during the day.

The team are hoping to catch the suspect in the car,

which is parked near the address of a known associate.

Parking around the corner means they can sit covertly

and cover one exit route.

They're waiting for back-up to cover the other.

I've got it covered from one angle, but I think it's going to be

driving out someone who's wanted in a minute.

But it's too late, the car has gone.

He's got to have done a U-turn.

He's got to have gone out that way.

Gary and the team decide to knock at the associate's address.

KNOCKING ON DOOR

There's no answer. Another address down, but no suspect.

And this time he might have slipped through their fingers.

But the team aren't giving up,

and back on the road, their diligence pays off....

Yeah, OK, I'll get him to spin the car around.

..as they receive new information of the suspect's possible whereabouts.

We'll be there in 30 seconds.

After we got that information, we went to the address we'd been given.

Myself and PC Trevor went to the front. Other officers covered rear access and exits to the house.

We made sure the man wouldn't escape. Colleagues from the Impact Team

were all positioned on roads nearby

and some were near the back garden, so we could see if they'd escape through the back door.

There's someone in there, cos I can hear a kid.

Police officers. Get your mum to open the door.

Hello, it's the police. Can you come to the door, please?

It was concerning at this time that the door was not being answered.

We knew he knew we were police.

We knew this male was probably inside.

We believed he would try to escape

and that's why the delay was being caused.

Two people moving, I need you to come to the door, it's the police.

Can you come and open the door?

It's not my house and the person that owns it is asleep.

That's OK, but can you open the door, please?

When the female said she couldn't open the door for what was

pathetic excuses, it was obvious that the male was in there

or someone who was wanted was in the address

and she was making excuses, hoping we'd go away or give them enough time to escape.

We just need to talk to you, you need to open the door.

Police, no issues with people who live here.

Then another officer witnessed males leave the back of the house,

one of them being the male we were after.

He then jumped over two or three fences, to get to him quickly.

He was compliant and he was arrested.

The Impact Team have arrested their man.

An arrest like this shows how important Specials are to

Cambridge Constabulary.

I was an extra body, I could cover a different exit.

Operations like this work better if they can get Specials on their team.

Today's operation makes a change from Gary's usual weekend

city-centre shifts.

That job that day was an excellent job,

one of the best I've ever been involved in

We were looking for a high-profile criminal who causes Cambridge

Constabulary a huge amount of problems, so it was a great shift, a great day,

and it was really good that we got this man into custody in the end.

The man was charged with burglary and theft

and he was found to have breached a restraining order.

He pleaded guilty in court

and was given a six-month suspended sentence.

Special Constable Susan Burberry is on the road with PC James Carradice.

At 21, she's already been volunteering for two years...

Yeah, you can do that.

..but feels she still has a lot to learn.

I see the regular officers who have a bit more experience,

who do an absolute brilliant job and they know exactly what to do.

I've improved a lot since starting.

But there's always more to learn from the people around me

and the other officers.

Susan is a chemistry student.

I'm mixing dry ice and acetone. And it's minus 78 degrees.

She volunteers with the Specials during her break from university.

At home, Susan is the eldest of four siblings

and has a close relationship with her grandma, Freda.

I've lived with my grandma since I was two years old.

She's always been around and she was a primary school teacher.

So, she's strict but makes things fun and, yeah, she's brilliant.

She always says she enjoys her job,

but how on Earth she enjoys it, I have no idea.

When I was that age, I certainly wouldn't have wanted to do that,

but we need people like Susan.

This evening Susan and regular officer, PC James Carradice,

have received a call about a shoplifter at a local supermarket.

There are a lot of calls to shoplifting offences.

There's no such thing as a typical shoplifter.

You've got people of all ages, both genders, all races.

They're all doing it for their own reasons. Sometimes they'll

take a small amount of stuff, sometimes they'll take loads.

The Specials arrive at the supermarket.

They speak to security staff, who have detained

the shoplifter in the room next door.

-What's the value of the items in the green bag?

-Er, £296.50.

The woman paid for some groceries,

but attempted to steal around £300-worth of whisky.

I was very surprised at the amount she'd taken

because she wasn't known to the police.

The security guard also tells the officers the woman

has admitted to her crime.

She's admitted everything to you, has she? All right. Super.

Shoplifters are usually repeat offenders.

It's a compulsion - they tend to do it repeatedly

and it's quite hard to get people to break the cycle of shoplifting.

The officers don't know if this shoplifter has offended before.

Hello, how are you?

-Fine, thank you.

-You know why we're here, don't you?

She is almost 70 years old.

I've never come across a shoplifter before who was a pensioner.

I was surprised, she was very small and, obviously, elderly.

So security says you've admitted to them that you did take

the items, that you did conceal them and you left the store with them?

Yes. I feel embarrassed and shameful.

I did feel sorry for her, in some ways, because she seemed

very embarrassed that she'd done it, she seemed very sorry.

She might have admitted it, but the officers try to find out

if there's a motive for the crime.

One of the questions that I'm going to have is why.

Is there something that caused you to do it?

That's what I'm concerned about.

Why did it happen?

I don't know.

You don't know.

Because you paid for the other things,

but decided not to pay for some of it.

Was that because you didn't have enough money to pay?

I don't know.

I wish I had paid, instead of getting myself into trouble.

She told us she didn't know why she had stolen the goods.

Obviously, she wasn't giving us the whole picture

and she wasn't giving us satisfactory answers.

Have you had any previous with the police, at all?

No.

Nothing ever? How are you feeling right now?

-I'm fine.

-Feeling fine. OK.

Let me do a few checks, I'll pop out with my colleague and have a chat,

then we'll come in here and we'll see what going to happen next, OK?

-Give us a few minutes.

-Right.

James and Susan have discretion about how they deal with the case.

Their options include giving a caution or arresting the woman.

It's not an easy decision.

She surely can't not be arrested when she's taken that much.

It might be, if she's got no history,

we might be able to do something here.

Taking someone that age into custody, we'd have to justify that.

If we can do something here, I'd rather do that than take her in.

It could be that she'd be there for a good few hours.

I initially wanted to arrest her.

It seemed unlikely that someone's first shoplifting offence

would involve that much stock.

With £300 of goods to consider, including a large

quantity of whisky, James phones his shift sergeant to get advice.

The main concern was because she was nearly 70 years old,

we didn't want to take her into custody and put her in a cell

and find that there were some serious medical complications.

Sarge is more than happy to do either an RJ or a caution.

Let's ask these guys what they want and we'll go from there.

-Fair enough.

-I don't think its proportionate to arrest her when she's so old.

They need to weigh up their options.

As a representative of the supermarket,

the opinion of the security guard will play a factor.

What do you guys want out of this?

Taking into account her age and the way she's acted since you stopped her.

-Yeah, a caution.

-Yeah? OK.

After taking everything into consideration,

Susan and James come to a decision.

I'm going to caution.

This would be a form of a criminal record.

You don't have to accept it, but if you don't, we have to go to

the police station and do some more there, so I think this is a good option.

It was a difficult decision not to arrest her,

but I think it was definitely the best option,

considering her age.

You clearly know what you did was wrong today.

I think it was one of those one-off crazy moments that won't

happen again and I'm pleased that we've dealt with it in this way.

I'm very sorry what I did

and I'm very embarrassed, anyway, for you to come to talk to me.

It is what it is, isn't it?

Arresting certainly is not the only option, even in situations

when so much property has been taken.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you. Cheers.

I think pretty much every job does teach you something as a Special

so you're always coming across new types of jobs,

new experiences.

The fact that I see people around me doing great jobs motivates me

to be a better Special.

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