Two Brand New Specials Amongst Officers To Be Congratulated By DCC After First Night’s Work
Written by Shaun Moore on June 17, 2010
Two brand new Special Constables are amongst four officers who are set to be congratulated by Deputy Chief Constable (DCC) Mick Matthews for the way they dealt with an incident of disorder in the city last week.
The DCC has asked to meet Special Constables Matthew Richards, John East, Lisa Harker and Assistant Divisional Officer (ADO) Matthew Bowden after they were praised by Inspector Pete Godwin for helping to defuse a fight in Gloucester last week.
Special Constables Matthew Richards and John East were taking part in their very first patrols after completing their training for the role the day before.
Inspector Pete Godwin, of Gloucester, said: “There were around 15 to 20 people who knew each other involved in a fight in the Barton Street area.
“Shortly after arriving, and only hours into his first shift, John made his first arrest for common assault and the prisoner was placed in the back of the van. The arrest was of an exceptionally high standard and the caution was delivered perfectly.
“Lisa then took decisive steps to persuade a woman carrying a knife to give it up safely.
“The situation would have been testing for any officer to experience, let alone those new to the job, but they coped extremely well under the pressure and appeared to remain calm and in control throughout. The incident could have proved significantly more serious without them.
“It is also important to mention that this level of confidence and control could only have been achieved because of the impeccable quality of training they received from the Constabulary.
Special Constable John East said: “It was a very eventful first evening – when we were there I wasn’t worried. We’d had training, good training, and felt confident in what we were doing. We didn’t have time for nerves, we just had to get stuck in, splitting people up, getting details and getting it sorted.
“Afterwards, when I reflected on it, you think of all the things that could have happened, but we were all just pleased to have done a job like that with a positive outcome. “
The new recruits are part of a group of 15 specials who started their training in March and became fully-fledged special officers at a passing out ceremony last week.
Gloucestershire Constabulary are still urging people who want to become specials to visit their website and recently launched a recruitment drive to get people interested.
More information can be found at www.gloucestershire.police.uk
