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Exploring the role and contribution of police support volunteers in an English constabulary

Exploring the role and contribution of police support volunteers in an English constabulary

Pepper, Melissa ORCID: 0000-0002-7211-2349, Bullock, Karen and McCarthy, Daniel (2020) Exploring the role and contribution of police support volunteers in an English constabulary. Policing, 15 (4). pp. 2015-2028. ISSN 1752-4512 (Print), 1752-4520 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paaa005)

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Abstract

Police Support Volunteers (PSVs) - citizens who give their time freely to perform tasks that complement the duties of officers and staff – undertake a variety of roles across every police service in England and Wales. PSVs offer additional capacity to policing, as well as opportunities for enhanced service delivery. PSVs attach considerable meaning to their contribution, and this is found to be instrumental to motivation, satisfaction, and intention to continue. However, creating meaningful opportunities for PSVs is challenging: they are welcome donors of time and skills, but must remain non-essential. Drawing on a survey of 140 PSVs in a large urban constabulary in England, this article considers the contribution of PSVs, exploring findings through two typologies (motivation and role type), and highlighting the importance of feeling and being ‘useful’. The article calls for a more imaginative stance to involving PSVs at a time of shifting priorities and diminishing resources.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: police, police support volunteers, volunteering
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group: Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences > School of Law & Criminology (LAC)
Last Modified: 02 Mar 2022 01:38
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/26890

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