Episode 15 The Specials

Get 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...

He's gone down there.

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

Out! Get out of 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, Chris is hot on the trail of a robbery suspect.

You don't really get time to feel anything. You just act.

I will spray you if you do not lay down on the floor.

Bill gets more than he bargained for from a speeding motorist.

A traffic stop can lead to all sorts of things.

Got any cannabis in here, sir? Where is it?

And Lewis has to keep his cool

when dealing with a disturbance in a back garden.

I'll punch your head in, in a minute.

Saturday night and Special Constable Chris Hallat

is gearing up for a night on patrol with PC Colin Johnson.

SIREN WAILS

It's not long before a job comes through over the radio.

Yeah, we're just going to go and back up a colleague in Wisbech.

There's a chap got a...going round with a hammer.

He's just robbed someone.

So we're just going to do an area search to see if we can find him.

Chris and Colin head straight to the area where

the robbery suspect was seen.

Although he's a volunteer, Chris doesn't think twice

about putting himself in potential danger.

In situations like that, I'm not scared for myself,

but, yeah, I'm mindful of the public and their safety.

When he's not volunteering,

Chris is the site manager of two police training centres.

Afternoon, John.

He's in charge of building maintenance and security,

and generally looking after the regular officers he volunteers with.

-OK.

-OK. Cheers, pal. Thank you.

Yeah, the main role is working alongside other police officers

on two different sites.

It's my responsibility to make sure the whole site is running smoothly.

Any problems, I'm there to sort it out.

During the day, Chris is surrounded by regular officers

and in his free time, he's on the streets doing the same job as them -

just unpaid.

INDISTINCT CALL ON RADIO

Tonight the hunt is on for a robbery suspect armed with a hammer.

And Chris has his own reasons for putting himself on

the front line as a police special.

Six, seven years ago, I was beaten up in a kebab shop.

So going out and helping people

and stopping that from happening to other people

is one of the things that makes me want to go out again.

Keep doing it.

Chris radios control for more information on the suspects.

Yeah, Rem, what's he wearing?

'Black hooded top, white gloves.'

The description over the radio was

two white males, both wearing hoodies.

One had white gloves on, and possibly in possession of a hammer.

Now they have a description, Chris and Colin do

a careful sweep of the area where the suspects were last seen.

Rem, update please. Where are you?

When you're doing an area search for someone that potentially could

harm someone, it's about looking for things that are out of place,

that doesn't quite look right.

Is that him with the white top?

After just a few minutes, Chris catches sight of some men

who match the description of the suspects.

There we go. There we go.

Go down there.

-Oi!

-Go, go, go, mate!

You don't really get time to see anything, you just act.

And I suppose your training takes over and you deal with it.

Chris tries desperately to track the suspects

by listening to colleagues over the radio.

'He's just gone up by the Chinese.'

This way?

But it's not easy.

Main priority was stop them, get them off the street.

If someone's got a hammer, you know, why have they got it?

What are they going to use it for?

It never enters my mind that I'm out there doing this for free.

Despite a thorough search of the streets,

the suspects are nowhere to be seen.

At that point, they'd done a vanishing act.

'Towards Falcon Road.'

CCTV officers are scanning the area

and spot two men on bikes fitting the suspects' description.

'Two males on bikes. Now Falcon Road toward Church Terrace,

'which is at the rear of The Duke's Head. Over.'

It's unclear if they are the robbers,

but with a weapon involved, the police aren't taking any chances.

It does go through your mind that, if a person gets away,

what are they going to do next time?

Yeah, I think that's why you put in 110% to try and find them.

As a special, Chris is on hand to help his regular colleagues.

My colleague pressed his emergency button

which I thought, you know, he's in trouble.

'Stop, stop, stop at the rear of The Duke's Head.

'The rear of The Duke's Head is Falcon Lane.

'They're now turning away from the flashing blue lights.'

Chris knows he could come face to face

with a potentially violent suspect at any moment.

Anyone that wanted to become a special,

don't take it light-hearted.

Instead of running away from it, you're walking into it.

INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER

Once again, Chris spots the men on bikes.

Stop there! Police! Stop there!

'As we approached them, I was thinking, you know,

'it could go horribly wrong.'

The men fit the description of the suspects.

As they could be armed, Chris draws his PAVA spray.

Stop, stop!

Stop. Get off the bike, get off.

Get off your bike. You. Get off the bike.

-Back off! Get on your knees.

-No.

-Do it now! Do it now!

Get down on the floor now!

Down on the floor! Down on the floor now!

Get on the floor!

I think when you're in a situation like that,

you're constantly thinking about what to do next.

-Get on the floor.

-Do it now. Get on the floor.

-Get on the floor.

-No, I haven't done anything wrong.

I'm not going to tell you again, do it now.

What have I done wrong?

Lay down on your front. Lay on your front!

If he tries to get up, I'll PAVA him.

If that doesn't work then, yeah, I'll use my baton.

But at the same time, you're thinking about, is your colleague safe?

What's going on with him? Hopefully he's doing the same thing.

-I haven't done...

-Do it now! Do it now!

-I've done nothing wrong.

I will spray you if you do not lay down on the floor.

Back-up arrives and not a moment too soon.

-Put your arms out!

-Hands down!

I haven't done nothing wrong.

What are you arresting me for? I haven't done nothing wrong.

I haven't done nothing wrong.

I haven't done nothing wrong.

This is one reason why I'm a special,

because not knowing what's going to happen.

Listen to me. You are under arrest on suspicion of robbery.

You do not have to say anything which may harm your defence.

If you do not mention something which you later rely on in court...

-Do you understand?

-I haven't done anything wrong!

-BLEEP!

The reason for your arrest is to prevent further harm

and for a prompt and effective investigation. Do you understand?

-I haven't done anything wrong!

-We do need one more van.

I haven't done nothing wrong.

The man is adamant he's done nothing wrong

but he fits the description of the man they are looking for.

Right, that will be explained to you.

I don't ever worry that the wrong person has been arrested

because, at the end of the day, it will come out

when they're booked into custody, once they're interviewed.

If they're innocent, they're innocent.

At the time, you're doing what's best for the public.

And that's the reason you've got that power to arrest and question them.

Um...to prove their innocence.

-Have you got asthma?

-Yes, I have got

-BLEEP

-asthma.

-Where's your inhaler?

-At my

-BLEEP

-house.

It's important to just try and calm them down.

The chap's already upset so why make it worse?

I haven't done nothing wrong and you arrested me.

I'm not going to do anything.

The man is still protesting his innocence but it's Chris's job

to get him back to the station to be interviewed by his colleagues.

Right, let me remind you, you're under arrest

-and anything you say will be written down.

-What for?

It will be explained to you when we get down to custody.

MUFFLED SHOUTS

The van arrives to take the two suspects to custody.

You never know what's going to happen.

Obviously, my normal day job is completely opposite

to what we're doing now.

-Has he been searched, Chris?

-Yes.

-Yes, he has, mate.

Just watch your head, buddy.

The two suspects were taken back to the station and questioned.

They were later released after being found to have nothing to do

with the crime.

You should never judge people in this job.

You're there if they're innocent or not innocent.

At the end of the day, I'm not judge and jury.

But they fit the description, simple as that.

Specials are unpaid volunteers who work alone

or alongside the regular police to fight crime in their communities.

He got over.

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

-Come on.

-Recovery is 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!

-Move out the way.

-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.

Den, incoming.

Specials work 16 hours a month or more as volunteers

and undertake all kinds of duties,

from policing community events to arresting hardened criminals.

Peterborough.

Special Chief Inspector Bill Bond and PC Darren Nyl

are carrying out speed checks on a dual carriageway.

This is a stretch of dual carriageway with a 50mph limit.

We're being exceptionally charitable and taking a threshold of 65 today.

So Darren will gesture to people to come in around 60

but we won't be pulling anyone in for ticketing under 65.

When he's not keeping Britain's roads safe,

Bill runs his own property business.

I run a small residential lettings company which, thankfully,

virtually runs itself and enables me to take time off to do policing.

And policing has become Bill's preferred full-time profession -

every hour dedicated free of charge.

Last year I did 1,900 hours, which comes out roughly

equivalent to the hours of a regular officer working full-time.

I get an immense sense of job satisfaction.

I first became a special many years ago

when I was at teacher training college.

I was deciding that teacher training wasn't for me and, at that stage,

the two likely possibilities were the police and the Army.

The Army, in fact, won by a short head

and now I've been able to return to policing.

I felt I had a choice with my background

of either getting off my backside and doing something

or sitting on my backside and complaining.

I've always been interested in motoring and

I rather like the absolute offence nature of most motoring offences.

SCANNER BEEPS

-64.

-Hit him again.

-63, 51.

Slammed his brakes on.

Is that the Audi? Do you want words of advice?

Yes, definitely.

This motorist hasn't hit the 65mph threshold.

He'll escape a ticket but not a severe warning.

-Hello, sir, are you local?

-I am, yeah.

Do you know what the speed limit is along this stretch of road?

-It's 50mph.

-OK. We're doing some speed enforcement checks today,

you've not hit the threshold of what we're prosecuting people.

But 63, 64... On another day,

somebody could give you a ticket quite easily.

All right. Can you bear that in mind for me, sir?

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you, you drive carefully.

-66, Darren.

-Green van?

Van, 66. This van.

A traffic stop can lead to all sorts of things.

You can stop somebody for a specific traffic matter

that then turns into lots of other things.

Hello, sir. Turn your window down, please.

Hi, sir. We're doing speed enforcement checks.

Do you know what the speed is on this stretch of road?

INDISTINCT SPEECH

Sorry? No, sir. It's 50. You were doing...66.

As noted on the Home Office approved device.

Got any cannabis in here, sir?

Where is it?

I don't have a particularly good sense of smell, but

when he opened his window, I got the unmistakable whiff of cannabis.

He produced a tin which had a certain amount of herbal

and a little grinder.

Bill's find of the illegal drug cannabis

changes how the situation should be dealt with.

-Who's vehicle is it, sir?

-It's mine.

Right, need to do some checks before I find out how I can deal

with the speeding matter.

And also the matter of the cannabis. I need to caution you.

You don't have to say anything, but it may harm your defence

if you don't mention when questioned something you rely on in court.

Anything you do say may be given in evidence.

-Do you understand the caution?

-Yes.

-OK.

If I'm able to deal with the speeding matter by way of a ticket, I will.

But that depends on how many points you've got on your licence.

How many do you have on your licence?

-I think I might have three.

-Three. If you've got three, that's fine.

On the subject of the cannabis,

it depends on your previous history in that respect.

The discovery of the cannabis means Bill will have to find out more

about his criminal history before deciding how to proceed.

There are three stages really in how we deal with

possession of small amounts of cannabis for personal use.

On the first instance, an adult can be dealt by way of

a formal cannabis warning.

On the second occasion,

he can be dealt with by a fixed penalty notice of £80.

And on a third subsequent event,

then the offender will be arrested and dealt with through custody.

While Bill is waiting for the results of the background checks,

Darren has another chat with the driver.

Apart from what you've handed to my colleague,

is there anything else in the vehicle? I am going to search it.

-It's just leaves.

-Yeah, yeah.

Any more?

The discovery of more cannabis could be bad news for the driver

if the officers decide it's isn't for personal use.

Have you smoked any today?

-Yes.

-How long ago?

-About an hour and a half ago.

-OK.

Obviously you are aware you can be arrested,

section four - unfit through drink and drugs - taken to custody

-and an impairment test carried out.

-OK, yeah.

I'm looking at your pupils and your demeanour

and I've got no concerns about that at the moment.

But it's not worth it, all right.

You can be as incapable of driving safely

if you've been taking drugs as alcohol.

Perhaps because of my background in the Army, where

I'd have lost my job if I'd ever been caught experimenting with drugs,

it's not something I ever did as a young person.

I think that there's a lot of harm done, mental health-wise,

by people who use drugs.

Some kids seem to be absolutely screwed up by the use of cannabis.

And I believe that our current laws and enforcement policy are correct.

I'd like to see them tightened rather than relaxed.

During the search, Darren finds something else in the car.

Bill, take a breath test as well, please, mate.

If you look inside, there's actually a bottle of Stella.

-Done one of these before?

-Yeah.

The man doesn't appear to have been drinking,

but, just to double check, they breathalyse him.

Take a deep breath, form a seal around the tube.

I'll hold the machine. Blow until I tell you to stop.

Keep blowing. Keep blowing. Keep blowing. Thank you.

Zero. Smashing. Take the tube out for me, please.

That's yours now. Thank you.

The man has been given the all clear from the breath test

and the results of his criminal history are in.

The checks reveal a previous caution for cannabis a decade ago.

Now it's up to Bill to draw on years of experience as a special

and decide whether or not to exercise discretion in this case.

OK. Having taken into consideration all the issues

surrounding your possession of this controlled drug, I'm issuing

with you with a formal warning for unlawful possession of cannabis.

A crime will be recorded and detected,

with you being named as the offender.

This time, the man is given a caution

and his cannabis is confiscated,

but, if he is caught again, the punishment will be more severe.

If he'd had a lot more with him,

I might have been suspicious that it was for selling on

and I might have arrested him for possession with intent to supply.

But I was perfectly happy that it was for his own use

and, because he's had nothing relevant within the last decade,

I decided that that was the appropriate way of dealing with it.

He was perfectly compliant and honest with us and we don't arrest people

unless it's necessary to do so.

Bit too fast, mate. That's the main issue.

Thanks for your time.

-Beware of illegal substances and watch your speed.

-OK.

OK, cheers.

Another happy customer.

I get an immense sense of job satisfaction.

I enjoy applying the law and every duty is different.

Good little stop. Stopped him initially for speed, 66 in a 50.

And he's produced that amount of cannabis.

So he's gone away with a ticket for £60 and a formal cannabis warning.

A cold night in mid-winter

and specials Lewis Newton and Karl Secker respond to a call

from a young couple about a drunk man at the bottom of their garden.

We were just watching a film and someone knocked on our front window

and scared us a bit.

Lewis knows any situation where alcohol's involved could

potentially be a dangerous one, but that's why he volunteers.

I put myself in potential dangerous situations to gain experience.

As well as that, you have members of the public

who've called the police because they're scared

or they don't know what to do.

And that's what we're there for. We're coming out there to help them.

Good evening.

I hear you've got a gentleman that...

We do, he says he's epileptic and keeps fitting,

-but he hasn't had a fit since he's sat with us.

-OK.

In my work as a special constable, I deal with drunk people

on a regular basis so the main priority is

the safety of yourself, but also for members of the public as well.

Hello there, we're from the police. We're police officers.

-You all right?

-Yeah, what do you want?

Nothing. We were just wondering if you are OK, that's all.

-Not really, no.

-No? What's wrong?

-I don't know.

-You don't know?

Dealing with people is a vital part of being a special constable.

It's important to deal with them as you see them,

and deal with the situation that's actually occurred.

When he's not volunteering as a special,

Lewis is at the gym - working as a membership consultant.

Yeah, so you've got the pay-and-go

where you can just pay for everything as you come along.

The best part about my day job is the people who work here.

I'm a friendly person so it's important for me

to work with people who are also friendly.

It's absolutely fantastic.

-Great stuff.

-Thank you.

And volunteering allows him to pursue his lifelong passion.

I became a special because I was brought up from a young age

around the emergency services. My dad's in the ambulance service.

I then had my heart set ever since, playing with my police cars

when I was young, to join the police.

Leading a double life,

he sees many similarities between his day job and his police work.

Part of the specials is helping people.

This is also helping people, that's what I like about it.

Lewis and Karl are figuring out what to do with

the drunk man in the back garden.

Where do you live?

INDISTINCT RESPONSE

Can you make your own way back there or not?

-No.

-Do you live on your own or do you live with someone?

The initial call described him as drunk,

now the woman who made the call has told Lewis he may be epileptic, too.

Are you epileptic?

-Yes, yes, I've got my tablets but...

-That's OK. When was your last fit?

-Do you know?

-But...

-Was it today?

-About an hour ago.

From taking that information

he had informed me that he had epilepsy. It did make me

feel a bit more worried and concerned for his safety.

The man requires medical attention, but he's unstable.

Lewis decides to call an ambulance.

Until it arrives, he needs to keep the situation under control.

He had been drinking.

I established that quite soon from the smell of his breath.

Phoned the police on me.

But, the man is becoming agitated that the householders

have called the police.

-They're not that nice, are they?

-LEWIS LAUGHS

They phoned us because they're worried about you, that's all.

-Nah, they grassed me up. Grass! Grass! Dirty, stinking

-BLEEP

-grass.

Calm down.

The male did become agitated on the scene.

At the time, myself and my colleague couldn't work out

if it was due to his mental health issues he may have

or the alcohol he's consumed

or through the situation where he was at the time.

So it was important for us to talk to him and keep talking to him

so he knew we were there.

Listen to me, we're just here to help you out.

-What, you coming here to nick me?

-No, I don't want to nick you.

-BLEEP! BLEEP!

-Are you going to lock me up?

No, I don't want to. No.

Any situation you attend, any situation can spiral out of control,

no matter what the situation is.

Lewis' training as a special has given him

the skills and confidence to defuse tense situations.

-How old are you?

-How old am I? Guess how old I am.

-25?

-Oh! Nearly. It's cos I moisturise.

I put moisturiser on, that's why.

THEY ALL LAUGH

I think its important, in the right situation, to have humour.

I thought that that time it was. A lot of people call me quite young,

quite a young looking face so by saying I use moisturiser

it just relieves tension from any situation you might have.

Good answer.

Ambulance is here now for you, mate.

Situations like this did make me volunteer to be in the police service

purely down to the fact that it is helping people.

He needed our help at that time and we were there to provide that help.

Hello, young man, how are you?

The paramedics arrive to help the man.

I'm from the ambulance service. How are you?

You feel cold. How long did you sit here?

They're checking his blood sugar levels, blood pressure,

to make sure he's taking his correct medication.

They're checking if he's had any alcohol today, which he has.

So now we're just waiting for the first response to make sure

the checks are OK and either take him

to hospital or we'll deal with him ourselves.

I think the best we can do is take you to hospital.

We spoke about it earlier, didn't we?

-I can take him in my car.

-Do you need us to follow?

No, you don't have to follow

because I don't see that he's aggressive or anything like this.

-Hey, you. I'm not aggressive.

-I didn't say that.

I said that, despite all these police following me...

-I'll punch your

-BLEEP

-head in, you know what I mean.

-Do you want a good hiding?

-HE LAUGHS

Sorry. That was a joke.

-It will be easy-peasy.

-That was a joke.

-I know, I know.

The man is showing further signs of being unstable

but Lewis and the paramedic keep their cool.

I soon established that he was just having a laugh

and he wouldn't do that. But by having that good bond at the start,

he could laugh it off with me. I still laughed it off

just so we could keep the situation defused at the time.

So what we're going to do is take him to the ambulance

to take him to hospital. It's the best place for him.

He needs to get warmed up, we need to check his vitals are OK.

You know, take it from there, really.

All good. A nice happy story.

You all right? There we go.

INDISTINCT SPEECH

I feel like I made a difference that day.

Because I've dealt with a sensitive situation

that could have escalated.

-PARAMEDIC:

-OK. Be careful with your head.

It gives you such a fantastic feeling

because you're putting something back into that community.

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