Episode 8 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...

Oh, 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:

Den, incoming...

Missiles start coming in. They're hitting things

-with a bit of force.

-Harvey breaks up trouble on New Year's Eve...

Hands on the car, now.

James helps officers looking for fuel thieves...

They can use it themselves, they can sell it on, do all sorts.

Hold your hands out for me.

-I don't like you.

-Stop pointing at me!

And Adam has to keep his cool when dealing with a very tricky customer.

-You, mate, are an idiot.

-You're being very aggressive.

You've got to have thick skin as a police officer,

but there is a level of which you're going to take abuse.

-I've got a £30 fine, I've talked to

-BLEEP

-for half-an-hour.

As a Special, there are some nights you know

are going to be busier than others.

I've got mine.

Tonight is one such occasion - New Year's Eve.

Acting Special Inspector, Harvey Barker

is getting ready for his shift.

-You've got pad, you've got cuffs.

-Thank you.

-You've got baton.

Right. We're done.

The plan for tonight is public order patrols around pubs and clubs.

We're very short of officers tonight, New Year's Eve,

the wheels are going to fall off at some point.

Cambridgeshire Police deal with around 350 incidents

on a night like this, four times more than usual...

Who the hell is setting off fireworks?

This is fine. I think we may be on.

..so volunteers like Harvey prove invaluable to the force.

Is she all right? All right, fair enough.

Thank you. Happy New Year to you.

New Year's Eve's a good night for Specials, we're really well used.

We boost the numbers, we can double the size of a shift going out.

Although many people would choose to be out partying tonight,

Harvey is happy to give his time for his local force.

They need people to do this kind of thing,

if everyone stayed at home and didn't put themselves

in the line, then who would?

At half past nine a call comes in,

reporting trouble in Soham town centre.

We've got a call that there's five plus groups of youths,

smashing stuff up, in Soham High Street.

So, we're going to have a look and see what's going on down there.

The police have had problems with drunk young people

causing trouble in this area before and regular officer, Den Williams,

advises the Specials on the plan of action for tonight.

I want us to be really robust, really positive.

Any youth may be involved,

drinking alcohol, we'll take them home if we have to.

We went there to have a good look around, see what we could find,

and then spotted a large group of youths,

some with bottles in hands, going down a side road.

-Hello.

-Shall I get out and have a chat?

-Don't run, there's good boys.

-COME HERE!

-That's all of you.

-Do you understand 'Come here'? Stand still!

-Oi!

-Come over here. Do we all speak English?

-ALL: Yes.

-What does 'Come here' mean?

Simple instructions by a police officer,

-you do what they say. Is that clear?

-Yeah, sorry.

The youths the officers have pulled over

aren't behaving anti-socially, but they are carrying

a large quantity of alcohol.

The first impressions of the group were...

"They look a bit young," and they're carrying bottles

and have backpacks and they're obviously drinking,

so, you're thinking "Yeah, there's quite a bit of booze here."

Got ID on you? Brilliant. Thank you.

You're 17. Got any alcohol on you?

-Yeah.

-Thank you. Give it over.

-No, I'm 17.

-Come here. I want the rest of it, I ain't that stupid.

Sorry, if I seem a bit cross with ya,

but we've reports of youngsters causing problems in Soham already.

-Really?

-The officers decide to confiscate the booze from the boys.

Some of them were under age, some were over 18,

and we knew that the guys who were over 18

were going to just pass drink to the guys who were underage.

At that point, and because of the problems we have had in that area

before for drinking, we know, nip this in the bud,

deal with it robustly, get the alcohol off the streets,

take it off of them.

We'll take your details and your parents,

-when you get your letter home, can come and get it if they want it.

-OK.

I didn't realise they would be drinking.

Officers issue a fixed penalty notice to an 18-year-old

for supplying alcohol to his underage friends.

One of the guys, who was over 18 in the group,

had actually bought most of the alcohol and was quite happy

to pass it amongst his friends, even though he knew some of them were under 18.

-Should you be supplying alcohol to minors?

-No.

Because of that, I'll seize your alcohol

-in fear that you may supply them.

-Yeah.

The amount of alcohol here is too much for teenagers to be drinking.

300 ml.

I was incredibly surprised by the amount of alcohol they had on them.

I really didn't think they could carry that much.

I think we counted over 40 different items,

including bottles, cans and really, really large containers of alcohol.

Sorry, we're taking the alcohol away.

I understand the guys didn't mean harm, they just wanted a quiet drink.

And they were good lads at heart, but ultimately,

I think they accepted they'd done wrong.

Harvey juggles volunteering for the police

with the demands of a full-time job.

Well, I work in IT, part of a small team,

and I'm the front-line support, could be, just dealing with...

someone just had a broken keyboard or printer,

it could be a really, really, panicky customer,

someone who's got a problem with a virus or something like that.

Needs resolving straightaway, so, yeah,

you deal with a little bit of pressure,

but not as much as the policing.

And Harvey sees strong people skills

as an essential part of his work as a Special.

I love helping people, customer service,

which translates to the policing, so I do like that.

I love helping people. When you turn up to someone's door.

The look of gratitude on their face, you can't beat it.

It's better than a pay cheque, I think.

Back on shift on New Year's Eve, and at 2.40 in the morning,

Harvey and the team receive another call

requesting immediate assistance.

There's some people trying to gate-crash a party in Ely,

so we're en route now.

With alcohol involved, it's going to get rowdy.

Do you want to give us the update?

Officers head straight there, but while en route,

they receive another call.

Just getting news in now, that it's escalating

and that they've been turned away from the door,

and now they're actually trying to break in.

-So it's getting worse. Four short shields.

-Short shields.

As we were making our way, we then get a second call

to say it's escalated and they're now using aggression,

they're now breaking windows, that's when you just have to get there,

it doesn't matter what you do, you have to get there,

you have to deal with it.

It's helping people, you know there are people there

who've called you for a reason, they're scared,

and they want the boys in blue to turn up.

The officers arrive at the scene and go to question the partygoers.

The front windows are smashed in.

They said there'd been some youths trying to gate-crash the party,

and they'd been quite aggressive,

I noticed at that point one of the windows was broken.

'On a whim, I then turned round and started moving away from the party,

'thinking, "What if they are still around and we haven't noticed them?"'

What we've got is some youths trying to get into the property

to attend the party...

THUDS AGAINST POLICE VAN

Den! Incoming!

'When we get to the van and missiles start coming in

'and they're hitting things with quite a bit of force,

'shields are the order of the day.'

Safety,

preserve life, that's what we're doing.

Harvey and the team look for whoever's throwing the missiles

and who has caused the damage at the party.

The adrenaline does kick in and there's the whole

'fight or flight' instinct comes in, but the training helps.

You just want to find the people that are doing it

because they've hurt people or they're intimidating people,

they're making people afraid. That's why we're there, to stop that.

We were advancing and then we saw a group of males...

..and we think, "Game on."

Take your hands out of your pockets for me, please.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Right. All four of you, hands on top of that car there.

Hands on the car, hands on the car.

-HANDS ON THE CAR NOW! Hands on the car.

-What are you pushing me for?

'The guys did appear intoxicated

'and had had quite a bit to drink, but that's not uncommon.'

The officers put the men in handcuffs,

while they wait for a police van to take them to custody.

All four of you... get this one cuffed as well...

All of you are under arrest on suspicion of criminal damage.

Criminal damage? What?

The reason for your arrest is for a prompt, effective investigation,

-so we can do bits and bobs.

-Yeah.

-All right,

we've got statements to obtain. You four have been named.

-Named?

-Named.

'We had sufficient cause, at that moment in time, to arrest them.'

They were named by people at the party

and one of the guy's names matched,

so we think, "These are the guys we're after."

The four men arrested on suspicion of criminal damage

were taken to custody and were ultimately released

with no further action.

We got a lot done, we achieved a lot,

with very little resources, yeah, it was good.

A real sense of achievement coming away from that.

It's now 3 o'clock in the morning on New Year's Day

and Harvey feels he's done all he can tonight

to help his local community and a make a difference.

Something like that, seeing that scene,

seeing people anxious, worried, nervous, afraid, basically.

You are there to help these people. That's one of the reasons I became a Special.

Specials are unpaid volunteers who work alone or alongside

the regular police to fight crime in their communities.

-Have you got all of them?

-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!

-Move out of the way.

-No.

Within many Special Constabularies, officers can rise through the ranks

from constable all the way to Chief Specials Officer.

Ouch, I've found a thorn.

Let me remind you you are under arrest and anything you say will be written down.

Specials work 16 hours a month or more as volunteers,

and undertake all kinds of duties...

COCKEREL CROWS

..from policing community events to arresting hardened criminals.

Right, oh, they've put the heating on for us.

And one such dedicated Special is 27-year-old James Chatfield.

It's a very modern design.

For my day job, I'm an estate agent

and I've doing that for around ten years now.

That sort of stuff can be relocated.

It takes quite a lot of commitment, it's long hours.

It's working weekends, late evenings.

It's a job you've got to really enjoy to do it,

a bit like being a Special Constable.

Lovely. Cheers, thank you. A nice cold drink for a nice cold night, eh?

James devotes around 60 hours a month to volunteering for the police

but he still makes time for his friends and family.

There we go.

'I manage to balance everything I do in my work life,

'my social life quite well.'

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

I don't get much time but that must be because I enjoy it so much.

What is he now, CID?

Yeah, he's the crime manager.

James's dad Andrew was a regular police officer in Cambridgeshire

and is pleased that his son is continuing the family tradition

of service to the community.

It's not just a career, it's a calling

and from my perspective I still miss the job, so he's carrying that on

probably in... You know, for me, makes me extremely proud,

and I'm really pleased that we're still there with that policing.

The county of Cambridgeshire covers around 1,300 square miles.

And as a Special based in a rural area of the county,

James sometimes patrols a huge area while on shift.

The area where I'm based is the Fenland area.

It is rural, it is really spread out, an absolutely massive area.

I've done shifts before where I've worked a late shift or a night shift

and we've done 250 to 300 miles in a shift.

Policing these rural areas can bring real challenges for James

and his regular colleagues.

People that live in rural areas can be targeted.

You see somewhere out in the middle of nowhere

and you think, "That's a prime target for a burglary."

We do see more of those types of crimes in the really rural areas.

SIREN WAILS

Tonight James is on shift with PC Matt Smart and just before midnight

a call comes over the radio requesting assistance.

There's an officer just called up to say that she's got three prisoners...

..out in this remote area.

They've asked for a van, there's no van available,

so we'll go off and offer some initial support.

'The call that came through was that two officers

'had stopped a vehicle down a rural farm track...'

..and they had these three males detained.

If something was to kick off - two officers against three of them -

it's not a great situation to be in.

James and Matt arrive on scene

to find that other officers have pulled over a silver car

and are in the process of searching it.

When I turned up to the scene there was a vehicle down

a single track leading down to a farm and there was the three males

sat inside the car and it was full of empty diesel drums.

The officers who requested back up from James and Matt

pulled the car over because it was seen acting suspiciously.

Basically we're on patrols tonight looking for people responsible

for a series of diesel thefts in the area.

My colleague spotted this car,

the silver one coming up one of the drives...

Spied it in the mirror going one way...

As we've gone up, it's spun round and come back

and we have caught it coming down here.

Pulled over and obviously we've opened up the car

and it's full of these drums

which are commonly used for putting diesel in.

I've counted, I think,

almost 20 five-gallon drums in the back of the car,

so there's a substantial amount of fuel

that could potentially go missing.

The containers found in the car could carry over £500 worth of fuel.

Basically they'll siphon the fuel out into all of the containers

and make off with it, and to be perfectly honest,

it would be pretty difficult to catch them after the act has actually happened.

It was an absolutely fantastic stop by the regular officers.

Pulled out and gone up here...

In rural areas there has been no end of diesel thefts.

The price of diesel, I think, is the main reason they go for it

and they can sell it on.

They can use it themselves, they can sell it on, they can do all sorts.

Thefts from agricultural businesses alone costs farmers

over £50 million a year

and robberies involving diesel in particular are on the rise.

Diesel thefts can impact on all sorts of people.

Farmers or ordinary members of the public that have had

their petrol tank drilled.

The cost of the damage that they're causing trying to get it as well

is unreal and ultimately, it's the victims that have to pay for it all.

Get the driver in your car so we can split them up.

-When they're talking we can't do much about it...

-Right.

Want to step out for me?

Now just hold your hands up for me.

Officers decide to separate the suspects and put them in different

vehicles while they wait for the van to come and take them to custody.

No, fine, I'll do that.

'It was important to separate the suspects as soon as possible...'

That's it. Put your hand in there for me.

With them talking in their own language and us not being able to understand it,

they could have been concocting some sort of story,

so when they go to interview they've have a get-out clause.

If you'd like to come and take a seat in the back of our car, please.

The men will need to give an account of their movements in interview

and explain the large amount of plastic containers found in the car.

The three males were arrested for going equipped to steal diesel.

'When the car was searched the evidence suggested that

'that is exactly what they were going to do.'

Mind your head.

He's absolutely devastated.

I'm not sure they have realised exactly what's happening.

Their English isn't that good.

I think as soon as he saw the cuffs come out, I think he's realised.

He's now sat in the back of our vehicle with his head pretty much in his lap.

So I think now it's become a bit of a reality.

The van arrives ready to take the suspects to custody.

All right to stick this one in the back of your van, is that all right?

Want to go with these gentlemen in their van?

We would have liked to have caught them siphoning some fuel out, but unfortunately,

that's not the case this evening,

but, yeah, I'll take this any day of the week, definitely.

Do you want to step out?

James is proud of his work as a Special

and his role in tonight's arrests.

You smell lovely of diesel, yummy.

Working the countryside shifts and knowing what goes on,

I think that I can certainly do my bit to helping those people

that are at risk because of the areas where they live.

The driver was charged with motoring offences

but no further action was taken against the suspects

in relation to the charge of going equipped to steal.

Cambridge.

A beautiful English city full of historic buildings,

it's been a centre of learning since the 13th century.

But this academic heritage causes a modern day problem

for the police and Specials like Adam Barnwell.

Cambridge is primarily a student city, it's built out of colleges.

You have academics and students on bikes,

everyday thousands of them,

and a lot of them don't have lights

so it's a big, big problem for us in Cambridge.

Around 19,000 cyclists are killed or injured each year in the UK.

Cambridgeshire constabulary do what they can to tackle this

shocking statistic with help from the Specials.

Hi, mate, can you jump on the path for me?

-You're on about me lights?

-Yeah.

Tonight Adam and fellow Special Constable Roger Thornton

are out doing their bit to solve the problem of cyclists without lights.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to get another set of lights....

-You'll get another set?

-Yeah.

But you could have been hit tonight and that would have been it.

This police operation isn't just about punishing people

who are breaking the law.

'We're running an operation to do with bike lights, any biking offences.'

And it was all for their safety and the safety of other road users.

The problem with missing a front light is you're always coming alongside vehicles,

especially at roundabouts.

They can't see you in their wing mirror because you don't have a front light...

'It's just so dangerous to not have lights.'

You could potentially die if you don't have lights on your bike,

especially in Cambridge with the amount of cyclists

and the traffic we have going through.

When he's not out trying to improve the safety of cyclists,

26-year-old Adam has a very different life.

I'm a website developer at a games studio in Cambridge

and what that consists of is me building websites

for distribution on the internet

and it is what I've been doing since university,

since I was, well, 16, back in school, actually.

At the moment I'm trying to fix a bug whereby on the high scores

some players see their names...

They are slightly askew to where they are supposed to be on the design.

Adam combines the demands of his full-time job with volunteering

as a Special and finding time for his girlfriend Katie.

I work between about 30 and 50 hours a month doing Specialing.

Katie, my girlfriend, is very understanding.

We have had a few arguments in the past about the time I'm putting in

and she does have to rein me in. I just get carried away sometimes.

-So when's your next shift?

-I dunno, I'm thinking next weekend, but...

I'm not sure if you've got anything on.

'I think when he started doing the police

'it was sort of a bit difficult trying to find the right balance.'

But we generally worked out a good routine of when he might go out.

So if he was going to go out on a Friday night,

I'd arrange my girls' night out

and we both see our families when we can

and it's actually started to become quite a nice, healthy balance

between our lives and him doing his police.

I'm going to have to give you a ticket, I'm afraid, however...

Back on the streets of Cambridge

and Adam is still dealing with cyclists without lights.

If you get lights within the next seven days you don't have to pay the ticket.

Can you stop?

His colleague Roger has just spotted another offending cyclist.

Park your bike up over there.

-You haven't got any lights.

-No.

-No.

Well, I can't walk home to Histon just cos somebody stole my lights.

Well, you can't ride the bike with no lights. That's against the law.

So, it's going to be a £30 fine. OK?

You expect me to walk home from town to Histon cos somebody stole my lights?

You want to report that as a crime?

I'm not going to waste my own personal time

so you bureaucrats can write it down and make everything seem legit,

well, it's still been stolen.

-Right.

-Cos I haven't reported it doesn't mean it hasn't happened.

This entire thing is null, isn't it?

-You are riding illegally on a bike with no lights.

-No.

-So where are your lights?

-Can you find me, honestly, yeah,

written a clause in the law that says it is ILLEGAL, against the law,

to ride with no lights?

"Other motoring offences. Pedal cycle - no specified obligatory lamps."

-And what is this? This is a Home Office group offence.

-Yes.

This is not an English common law.

Roger is an electronic engineer by day

and has been a Special for less than a year.

With the man becoming argumentative,

Adam goes to help his colleague deal with the situation.

What's the issue?

The male that we confronted was busy having a debate with Roger

and Roger was busy telling him it wasn't a debate,

"You're getting a ticket."

So I thought I'd step in.

It was trying to get some presence, show him we're not backing down

and you're going to have to deal with it.

This is going to start getting rather unpleasant for you.

-What, cos I went like that?

-Yeah, you can't...

I'm taking your fine and I'm going to leave, all right?

But I don't want in any way to be associated with you two

and I don't like you and I don't agree with you.

Stop pointing at me.

Despite two Specials now dealing with the cyclist,

he is getting increasingly agitated.

-I think you, mate, are an idiot...

-You are being very aggressive.

Honestly, mate, from the first moment I got here I've been polite,

I've been coherent and I've been intelligent in my discussion...

You just called me an idiot.

In my view you're an idiot, you're not very intelligent, mate.

Right, can I see some ID?

The Specials are keeping their cool

despite being verbally abused by the man.

'It is very common for people to get frustrated

'when they're pulled over for these minor offences.'

They forget that the police do other jobs too,

they don't just approach criminals and arrest people, they try and keep people safe.

They'll lock me up next.

-No, you'll get hit and go to hospital.

-By who?

By a car.

'He seemed to think he knew the law better than we did.'

The male didn't seem to understand that it was for his safety.

If I wanted to take the hard way I'd shout and bawl and get arrested, but I'm not.

-OK.

-I'm just telling you that you're both fools

and that you're going to get my details in the end,

so just wait your pleasant time, you've wasted mine, I'll waste yours.

But Roger's trying to tell the man that there is a way for him

not to pay the fine.

..So I can pay your £30 fine for...

You don't have to pay it. If you want to and you'd given me the chance to talk about it...

No, I don't want to, but it's either that or go to court,

which I even less likely want to.

So at the end of the day it's like putting someone between a rock and a hard place and saying...

-I'm telling you now...

-"..Oh, you don't want to do this one, so do this, it's fine."

'Roger was also trying describe to him there is an option

'for him to get lights and have the ticket quashed.'

But he didn't want to listen to that.

I'm going to have one last go at expressing this scheme to you.

You don't like my opinion, I don't like yours, mate.

No, there's a scheme going on at the moment.

-What, get bike lights? I had one till some

-BLEEP

-stole it!

Can you not understand that somebody stole my light?

Sir, stop swearing. The next time you swear you will be arrested under section 5 of the Public Order Act.

Section 5 doesn't exist in English common law, thank you very much.

The Specials are displaying immense patience with the man,

but if the situation escalates they can take further action.

'You've got to have a thick skin as a police officer.

'You are going to get called names, you're going to get sworn at.

'But there's a certain level at which you're going to take abuse.'

It was getting very close to arresting this male.

He'd sworn on a number of occasions even after he was warned not to.

-The whole point is I'm trying to tell you this.

-I'm not shouting...

If you got and buy some more lights...

Let me tell you about my bad day to make me feel better.

My lights have been stolen, I'm walking home, I've got a £30 fine.

-I've talked to two

-BLEEP

-for half an hour.

Sir, you've got to stop swearing.

'It was fairly frustrating'

that he just didn't want to listen.

He didn't want to listen to what we had to say,

everything we said just bounced straight back off.

After 15 minutes of being talked over,

Roger finally gets a chance to make his point.

If you go and buy some more lights, OK, yeah,

and take them to the police station,

we will tear this ticket up.

If you do that in seven days.

That's what I was trying to get across to you

when you first started being extremely rude to me.

Well you could have stopped me in my tracks with that line.

It's been very hard to. You've been very talkative.

You could have stopped me in my tracks with that line from the first second...

-I tried, I've tried!

-You could have said it over me.

-I've really tried.

-I've tried talking over you, you've been rude to me.

-Not with that line.

A frustrating encounter I'd have to say.

But, he accepted the ticket, at the end of the day.

As it's a ticket I do have to caution you, but you're not under arrest.

You have to caution me?

You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence

if you do not mention now something you later reply upon in court.

Anything you do say will be given in evidence. Do you understand?

-Jesus Christ!

-Do you understand?

-Yes, I understand.

Excellent. Have a good night.

The Specials have successfully resolved the situation

and avoided it escalating.

It's dealing with scenarios like this

that helps Adam develop as a Special.

'I've improved upon a lot of my skills.

'People skills, conflict management skills,

'and also helping the community which is the main reason I joined.

'I get a lot out of being a Special.'

I believe I can make a real difference to people's lives doing this job.

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