Acceptance
Historically, special constables were often looked down upon by regular officers and resented, as they were sometimes seen as "hobby bobbies" and not proper police officers. During the 1980s, specials were often considered to be preventing regular officers from earning overtime pay. Nowadays, they now have a much closer relationship with the regular police and are a supplement to understaffed police forces.
A sizeable proportion of regular officers have served as special constables before joining the regular force, which is encouraged by recruitment departments. Most police forces will accept applications from the age of 18; and the minimum age to commence training is 17 years and 9 months (Essex Constabulary).
Allowing special constables to be paid for their work has been a contentious issue, with mixed comments from all sides, with some people thinking that as specials are doing much the same job as regular officers they should be paid the same, but others thinking that this would attract the 'wrong' type of person (those motivated by monetary gain as opposed to those who are community minded).
Hull City Council offers a 50% discount on Council Tax for special constables who live in the Hull City council area.
Read more about this topic: Special Constabulary
Famous quotes containing the word acceptance:
“I greet thy love,
Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounteous.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“And is the price for your acceptance for me to conform? To be as you would want me to be?... You must accept me as I am. Do not question.... If my behavior seems different perhaps it is because it serves a higher purpose than to find acceptance in this dull and useless world.”
—Pat Fielder, and Paul Landres. Dracula (Francis Lederer)
“Assumptions that racism is more oppressive to black men than black women, then and now ... based on acceptance of patriarchal notions of masculinity.”
—bell hooks (b. c. 1955)