Episode 2 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...

A routine stop-and-search gets heated for Kirsti.

-Yes, you

-BLEEP

-did!

Steve leads the specials as they help police a demonstration.

A lot of people start to get carried along by the crowd

and they start to see red mist.

Nazi scum! Off our streets!

And Tony comes to the rescue of an elderly lady.

She's on the bed. Keep going, keep going, keep going.

They need medical attention and if that means the police service

have to enter the property, then so be it.

6pm.

Special Sergeant Kirsti Bruce is attending an operation briefing,

aimed at tackling a surge of burglaries in the Cambridge area.

This is the last 14 days, serious crime across Cambridge city.

We're getting a real spike of offending.

The purpose of the operation was to provide

high visibility patrols in burglary hotspots,

so that the public knew we were doing something about it

and criminals knew that we were around.

One of our criminals in that area has also come out of jail today,

so we need to be keeping an eye out for him.

And that's it, really, guys, so let's get out there and let's do it.

In her day job, Kirsti is a nanny, looking after two children.

I like working with children, I like the things that they come out with.

You know what your day is going to be -

it's going to be taking them to school and picking them up -

but you don't know what they're going to say.

-They just manage to make you smile.

-Hello!

-Move your face back a little bit. He's got a big beak.

-Hello!

-Hello!

Both jobs require a lot of patience, a lot of listening,

a good sense of humour, and telling people what to do.

Tonight, Kirsti is on patrol

with regular police sergeant Jamie Stenton.

While patrolling a known crime hotspot,

Sergeant Stenton spots the convicted burglar mentioned in the briefing.

He was released from prison earlier today and is with his girlfriend.

-What, we haven't done nothing!

-Keep it down!

-No!

-Keep it down!

-We're allowed to party.

All we wanted to do was have a chat with them

and possibly search them. It was just...

a very straightforward situation to start with.

-What's he done? He's just come out of

-BLEEP

-prison!

-No, I will not

-BLEEP

-speak to no-one.

-Speak to my colleague.

What do you mean, "speak to your colleague"?

-I'm not even wanted anymore.

-The man is being compliant,

but his girlfriend is angry about being stopped by police.

When someone's being aggressive, the best way is to not rise to it

and to try and bring them down, calm them down to your level,

so you can talk about the situation and resolve it as best as possible.

-Do you want to search me?

-You don't have to take your coat off.

-Search my coat. There you go.

-I will...

-Search that there.

Search it. I don't want you feeling me up.

She was shouting at us, not being particularly abusive,

but just very loud.

Do you want to check my shoes? There you go. There's one.

Keep your shoes on, you're going to get wet. There's a puddle...

Hurry up, then, because I'm getting rained on.

-What did we do to get stopped? Walk down the

-BLEEP

-road?

Sometimes people can be really compliant

when you stop them and explain that you're going to search them.

Other times people seem to think that...

they have to be DOING something wrong.

Why are you stopping me? You can't stop and search anyone for nothing.

We have to have grounds as to why we want to do it.

For those two, they were in a well-known burglary hotspot,

he's a burglar that's just been released from prison.

I think that gives anyone grounds to stop and search him.

-Because of the area...

-Pick my lighter up, please.

-Oi! Hang on a minute!

-I said, "Pick my lighter up, please!"

-Don't tell me what to do!

-I didn't say it in a horrible way!

The woman is becoming increasingly agitated.

As a special, it is always important to keep your guard up,

to not relax, because the minute you relax is the minute something

will happen. You need to constantly watch,

just look for the little signs

that can indicate to you that this situation

could potentially get out of control.

You will not be dictating to us what we will be doing.

What I said was, "Can you pick my lighter up, please?"

I'm not taking orders from you.

Why should I take orders from you when I've done nothing wrong?

'It does frustrate me when people speak to us and they're rude,'

they're loud, they're aggressive. I just think there's no need for it.

I would never dream of speaking to a police officer in that way.

'We're just doing a job and...'

when they need us, they'll call us

and they'll want us to respond quickly and be nice to them,

so why can't we have that respect back?

-Have you got a date of birth?

-See ya!

What's your excuse for arresting me?

-...Or you will be arrested.

-I didn't swear AT you,

I swore in a sentence! I said...

Having been searched, the woman is free to go

and her boyfriend tries to pull her away from the officers.

I want to know why you stopped me. You can't just stop me for nothing.

We'd stopped them we'd searched them, we'd had a chat.

They were free to go and they started walking away

but then she came back for a little bit more.

-What's he done?

-He's well-known for burglary...

He's just come out of prison today, yeah?

And I've come from court the other day. I don't want you floating...

She was given more than enough warnings,

and then some, and she still didn't take it.

She wasn't going to leave.

Yeah? What about it? You can't say that about my brother...

You're going to stop swearing or you're going to get nicked.

-No!

-Last chance.

-You're telling me about my brother,

saying that I'm getting stopped about my brother.

And I will. I hope this camera's reporting... What's your number?

-Don't you put your hands on me! Do you understand?

-Get off my arm!

-Get off my arm!

-Don't you put your hands on me!

When she went to grab Jamie,

that's then going from a verbal to a physical situation,

which there was just no need for.

-You're under arrest under Section 5 of the Public Order Act.

-Why am I arrested?

Why am I arrested when I only looked at your number?

Anything you do say may be given in evidence.

-Why? Why am I arrested?

-Section 5 of the Public Order Act.

-You had plenty of warnings.

-'Arresting her was the only option.'

There really was nothing else we could do.

We were pushed into a corner and that was the only option left.

The officers put the woman in handcuffs,

for her own safety, and theirs.

Sergeant Stenton insists she face the patrol car

for fear of being spat at.

-GET THE

-BLEEP

-OFF...

SCREAMING

MY COAT IS IN MY HAIR!

-You told us to put it on your head!

-Move my

-BLEEP

-coat!

You! I said, "Can I turn round?"

And you go, "No, because you're going to spit at me."

-Did I

-BLEEP

-spit at you? YES, YOU DID, YES, YOU

-BLEEP

-DID!

-Yes, you did! Yes, you

-BLEEP

-did!

-OK, on the floor.

INAUDIBLE AND SCREAMING

I DON'T CARE!

We tried our best to calm her down, but it just wasn't working.

The woman is extremely distressed and out of control.

All the officers can do now is wait for the custody van.

GET OFF OF ME!

-Are you really surprised you've been arrested?

-I DON'T CARE!

Being a special is quite similar to being a nanny.

It's about boundaries, not letting people take too much

and pushing their luck. It's quite similar

to working with the public as it is working with children.

-SHUT UP!

-If you just calm down...

-Why should I calm down?

Because we can't stand you up when you're behaving like this.

-I'VE DONE NOTHING!

-When the van turned up, I was relieved.

-Get the

-BLEEP

-off me.

-Roll her towards me.

I want to get up myself.

The woman went to court and pleaded guilty to a public order offence.

She was fined £50 and ordered to pay an extra £85

for breaching an existing court order.

I think the whole situation was a complete waste of police time.

My training as a special has really helped me deal with

aggressive behaviour, people that are rude.

I am now used to being shouted at an awful lot.

So this is just part and parcel of the job and it just doesn't phase me.

Specials are unpaid volunteers who work alone

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

-Have we got all of them?

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

-Come on.

Recovery is 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!

-Move out of the way.

Within many special constabularies, officers can rise

through the ranks from constable all the way to chief specials officer.

Specials work 16 hours a month or more as volunteers

and undertake all kinds of duties...

CROWING

..from policing community events to arresting hardened criminals.

Cambridge city centre.

Today, the specials are taking part in a massive operation

to police a demonstration by the English Defence League.

Around 80 EDL members are expected to take part

in the demonstration against plans to build a mosque in the area.

But hundreds more are expected to hold a counter-demonstration,

organised by Unite Against Fascism, a pressure group

who have already arrived in the city centre in their hundreds.

What a sick joke these people are!

WHISTLING AND APPLAUSE

Past demonstrations have seen major clashes

between the English Defence League and Unite Against Fascism.

And in charge of policing the operation

is Superintendent Vicki Skeels.

When you get crowds of people together

who feel very passionately about something,

sometimes they get swept away by the heat of the moment

and commit some criminal act, so the specials

will be operating alongside the regulars today,

giving us some support so that all the range of contingencies,

all the "what ifs?" can be dealt with by Cambridgeshire constabulary.

Kirsti Bruce is taking part in today's operation.

Responsible for her and the rest of the 25-strong unit of volunteers

is Special Chief Inspector Steve McCallion.

My brief was to ensure that people were able to demonstrate peacefully

and that there would be no problems, but also that the people of Cambridge

were able to go about their normal business without being disturbed by the demonstration.

We've been told that there's about 1,500 to 2,000 going to be here.

We've had it where we've come along, where we've had disorder

and we've dealt with that, and I'm sure that my team

will deal with anything that's thrown at them.

Around 40 English Defence League members have turned up,

fewer than the police were expecting.

CHANTING

To avoid violent clashes, the EDL members are put in a cordoned area,

well away from the counter demonstrators.

We're trained in cordons, so we know how to put on cordons,

basically how to deal with crowds, so that we can look after people

and make sure they don't get injured.

You can have just a couple of people walking past,

and the next thing you know, it's all just lost control

and it can turn into a very serious public order situation at that point.

For his day job, Steve runs a chemical etching factory,

making metal parts and components for everything,

from space satellites to cars and cameras.

-Five more.

-Five more and that's all done, is it?

-Yeah.

-Lovely job.

-OK...

-Steve works at the factory with his wife, Angela.

She was also a special, but is now retired.

I think he enjoys it. I think he loves it, really.

Going out and doing different things.

The variety and the community, things like that. I'm proud of him.

He does an amazing job, as all specials do.

After 17 years volunteering,

Steve has risen through the ranks to special chief inspector.

Tends to be a lot of meetings unfortunately, however...

I do try and get back out on the front line

because that's the bit that I really enjoy and that's the best part.

CHANTING

2:30. The EDL demonstration is over,

but now police face the hardest task of all.

The mile-and-a-half walk back to the train station.

MARCHERS: EDL! EDL! EDL!

So far, the police have maintained control, monitoring the situation,

but the next 30 minutes are critical.

MARCHERS: We're the famous EDL!

The police must contain the EDL protestors and protect them.

PROTESTORS: Nazi scum off our streets! Nazi scum off our streets!

I believe that everyone has the right to protest,

no matter what their beliefs are. Whether I agree with them or not,

I would always defend anyone's right to free speech.

And as a police officer, I believe that's what I'm there for.

The biggest problem with managing protests

when there's extreme views involved,

is that you have to keep control of everyone.

Because there's people that are trying to break free from the group,

and they can circumnavigate us and come round where we don't want them

and cause aggressive situations.

The Unite Against Fascism march is still going strong.

THEY CHANT Nazi scum, off our streets!

So far, the police operation has gone exactly as planned,

but Steve knows things can change in a heartbeat.

The dynamics of a crowd can change very, very quickly.

It can happen in seconds, literally.

All you need is one little flare point, just a couple of people,

and all of a sudden, it all just goes wrong.

An EDL protestor has broken away from the group.

He's immediately surrounded by police...

-Come over here a minute.

-I'm not doing nothing wrong!

..and escorted away from rival protestors.

THEY CHANT Nazi scum, off our streets!

Steve moves in to help the other officers...

..but it's not long before they're surrounded

by angry Unite Against Fascism supporters.

Nazi scum, off our streets!

One of the EDL guys was being marched away out of the area

and as he did that, the crowd started to become upset.

Nazi scum, off our streets!

This scenario could be a flash point for violence.

Nazi scum, off our streets!

A lot of people start to get carried along by the crowd

and they start to see red mist.

THEY SHOUT AND CHANT

A missile is thrown by a demonstrator

and officers immediately try to apprehend him.

He caught hold of him and then I went to assist him,

and we got him over to a fence.

Where at that point, because there's so many people around,

I was trying to marshal them away from us.

Not just for my safety or the other officers' safety,

but for the person we're trying to arrest's safety,

because in a crowd situation like that,

people can get pushed and shoved and people will get injured

if you're not careful.

DEMONSTRATORS SHOUT

Steve helps keep order around the arrested man

and prevents the situation from escalating.

The reason why the member of the public needed arresting

was purely and simply because you can't throw things at other people.

You can't throw things at police. It's reckless to do that,

to throw things in a public area where you might hit someone,

because it causes injury.

The man was taken into custody and released with a caution.

As the crowds disappear and the clean-up operation begins,

Steve and all the specials who volunteered today can rest easy,

knowing that their contribution has been invaluable.

We had a good team that worked well and if they hadn't been there,

that situation could have been a lot more serious than it was.

I think the day was a success.

Out of the best part of 500 people that were there, there was

only four arrests.

We were able to keep a lid on the situation,

and to ensure that no disorder happened.

SIREN BLARES

It's 1:30am and Special Sergeant Tony Bolton has been on shift

with colleague PC Leigh Norman since 6pm.

It's been a long, tiring night which shows no sign of letting up.

A call has just come in from a lorry driver, who claims that thieves have

been stealing fuel from his lorry, parked at the side of the road.

We need to go and talk to this particular lorry driver.

We're fairly sure that he's on the eastbound.

We are also on the understanding there was possibly

another two lorries that had actually had fuel stolen.

Tony's no stranger to this kind of incident.

He's been volunteering as a special for 11 years,

giving something back to his community.

I enjoy being a special, because I enjoy helping people.

I think that's one of the main roles of the police service.

I think if you undertake any form of voluntary organisation

and the special constabulary is one of them,

if you're committed to it then, yes,

I think you can change people's lives.

In his day job, Tony works as a podiatrist.

The next available appointment I would have would be Tuesday.

And when he's not providing a service

to his patients or the community,

he finds time for his family -

his daughter, Kayleigh, and wife, Veronica.

I'm very proud of him.

I think people who volunteer for their community have to be applauded

and he gives a lot of his time to do that.

The A14 in Cambridgeshire is a busy stretch of road

used by lorries carrying goods from the port of Felixstowe.

There are numerous lay-bys

where lorry drivers park up for the night,

and this is what fuel thieves take advantage of.

We're not 100% sure how many

have actually had fuel stolen at the moment,

but it's between one and three.

Good evening. Where's your tank, sir?

Right, here's the evidence of actually what they've done.

How much is gone?

250...

HE TRIES TO EXPLAIN IN POLISH

OK, somewhere around about 250 litres.

The thieves have stolen from not one but three lorries,

making off with over £800 worth of diesel.

They've broken the lock on this.

The thieves tend to operate at night, under cover of darkness.

If you don't catch them in the act,

it can be very hard to track them down.

Did you see them, sir?

Did you witness?

Yeah...sleeping?

You were sleeping?

Unfortunately, the lorry drivers don't speak much English,

but that's not a problem with Tony around.

Diesel, you...

Yeah.

Sleep. So, you...

No, no, no, no see.

The lorry drivers were Polish and Lithuanian nationals

and it's fair to say they didn't have any English at all.

I'm sleeping...my phone, telephone,

-beep-beep-beep-beep!

-Yeah.

Open door...oh, diesel.

With some pidgin English and some sign language,

all I needed to establish from these lorry drivers is...

did they see anything?

Everybody sleeping, saw nothing.

-ALL:

-No.

The force have arrested people

in connection with fuel thefts in this area.

But with no description of the suspects,

all Tony can do now

is gather as much evidence as he can from the scene.

It's very unlikely there's going to be any evidential value on that

because pretty much everybody that deals with diesel

is going to wear some form of gloves,

and the other thing is, it's absolutely swimming in diesel.

Right, let's go.

It's now 2am and Tony and Leigh are close to the end of their shift.

But just as they get back on the road, another call comes in.

It's suddenly turning into a very late night.

A call's just come in.

It's a request for assistance from ambulance.

There's a lady... It's believed that she's fallen behind

the door so she's actually blocking what sounds like her own front door.

If you have somebody

with some form of medical emergency within a property,

they need medical attention,

and if that means the police service have to enter the property,

then so be it.

Tony and Leigh arrive at the house,

where they find the ambulance crew waiting outside.

Do we know what's wrong with her?

I think she's had a fall and she's just lying across her bed awkwardly.

Can we just let her know what we're doing?

Cos this is going to be loud, yeah?

The lady is in her bedroom, not behind the door as first thought.

But she can't get to the door and may be injured,

so the ambulance crew need to get to her as quickly as possible.

Hello, the police are here now, they're going to open your door,

but it's going to be a bit noisy.

OK? Yeah, that's fine. OK, we've got confirmation.

Leigh has been trained to use a hardened steel battering ram

called an enforcer to gain access to properties.

It's only used in case of emergency

and where there's no other means of accessing the property.

-Do you want me just to brace the bottom?

-No, it'll be all right.

You reckon it'll just go? OK, let's get clear.

Usually, just one hit is enough to get the door open.

Hello, it's the police.

She's on the bed, keep going, keep going, keep going.

'It always gives you a sense of satisfaction no matter who you help,

'but there is a special place'

when that particular person's vulnerable.

The old lady was in her bedroom, she was in her bed.

The paramedics were right behind me

and obviously, what was critically important

was that the paramedics got to her as quickly as possible.

A neighbour arrives after hearing the door being forced open.

Sorry for the noise, sir. We just needed to get in.

Obviously the paramedics needed to get in, so we've just got in.

-So, what, did she call for help, or..?

-I don't know, sir.

It's all to do with ambulance, at the end of the day.

The ambulance service were here. They couldn't affect entry.

None of the keys in the key lock worked,

so we had to get in. So we've just got in.

'Initially, I thought it was a concerned neighbour.'

Somebody who admitted to knowing the particular old lady,

and it was quite nice

to have somebody showing some interest like this.

The neighbour isn't happy

that the police have smashed the lady's door in.

I'm worried that you've bust a door, and...

Why have you bust the door?

We couldn't get in, sir.

But as time went on, it just became more and more apparent

that he just kept asking the same questions over and over again

and he seemed to be getting more and more upset that we'd

actually had to take her door in, completely oblivious to the fact that

she had a medical emergency,

and the only way to meet her needs was to get the paramedics to her.

We're not making it a big issue, sir, at all.

-No, you were. Like, "I've told you about four

-BLEEP

-times.

Sir, in no way did I swear at you at all, sir.

Tony's had enough, and tells the man to go home.

We dealt with him quite robustly and eventually asked him,

or told him, in no uncertain terms, to leave.

And with the neighbour gone, the paramedics assess the patient

and decide that she'll have to go to hospital.

But the police clearly can't leave the property unattended

with the door unsecured.

We're now trying to make arrangements to get the door...

well, not repaired, it's probably not repairable, but at least boarded up.

And it's however long it takes a tradesman to get here,

potentially, to get the door sorted.

It's now quarter to three in the morning

and well past the end of Tony and Leigh's shift.

And like all specials, Tony's not being paid to be here tonight.

The moment you put the uniform on and you go out,

you're on patrol, on duty, and you're a police officer,

you just have to go with whatever happens.

What's always at the back of my mind is,

"What if that was MY grandmother? What if that was MY mother?"

How would you feel if you just left

and it was your mother's or your grandmother's property?

The elderly lady is taken by the paramedics to the nearest hospital.

But not before she's made sure that her house isn't going to be

left open to the elements.

She was understandably quite concerned about her door,

so just before she left I just wanted to reassure her

that we weren't going to leave until her front door was secure.

I had a conversation with her and she thanked me, so it's fine.

The locksmith arrives, the door is secured,

and Tony and Leigh can finally kiss goodbye to their shift.

There we go, we can safely leave the property.

Only an hour late off so far.

Now we've obviously got to go and take the key to the lady,

cos obviously she needs to be able to get back into her house.

And then once we've done that...phew!

You often hear about high speed car chases, armed criminals

and all those various things you see in the media,

but when it actually comes down to it,

nobody was armed, there was no high speed chase.

It was just a vulnerable person that needed our assistance that night

and we were in a position to give it.

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