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Council signs up to scheme making it easier for staff to volunteer with South Wales Police
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24 April 2023
Neath Port Talbot Council has become the first local authority in the South Wales Police force area to sign up for the Employer Supported Policing scheme which boosts police numbers making communities safer.
Under the scheme, which is now in operation, the council will make it easier for staff to become Special Constables or Police Support Volunteers by giving them paid time off to undertake their police duties and training.
At Neath’s Civic Centre on Friday, April 21st , 2023, Assistant Chief Constable (ACC) Danny Richards handed Neath Port Talbot Council Chief Executive Karen Jones and Council Leader Cllr Steve Hunt a certificate confirming the council’s involvement.
ACC Richards said: “I’d like to thank the council for collaborating with us. This scheme will give us greater resources allowing policing to be more visible in our communities.
“The council will also benefit because as staff involved in the scheme carry out their usual 'day job' they’ll have the benefit of police training and experience, bringing with it a host of skills including confidence, assertiveness, conflict resolution, crisis management and better links with local police teams and senior officers.”
Chief Executive Karen Jones said: “I fully support the scheme being launched today. One of the aims of our Corporate Plan as a council is ‘helping people live their lives’. If you ask people how they would like to live their lives, being safe and feeling safe is right at the top of the list.”
Council Leader, Cllr Hunt added: ”This will have a highly positive effect on South Wales Police and the communities in our towns, valleys and villages and I would urge any of our staff interested in becoming a Special Constable or Police Support Volunteer to contact our HR team.”
Neath Port Talbot Council Margam Country Park Countryside Manager Wayne Curtis trained to become a Special Constable last year.
He told the event: “I’m extremely proud to wear the uniform of South Wales Police where they don’t treat you as a ‘special’ they treat you as an officer. Many don’t appreciate Special Constables have the same training up to a point, the same equipment and the same powers as full time officers.
“In the short time I have been with South Wales Police I have come to have huge respect for the job they do and this scheme will allow me the time to play a bigger role in the police. To council colleagues thinking of volunteering, I’d say ‘go for it’”