Qasim is building bridges as a Special Constable

We met with Special Constable Qasim during the middle of a typical Thursday, where we found him teaching a classroom of college students in his role of senior lecturer. Education is a change of career for Qasim, who has previously held roles in international business development.

One thing that has remained consistent, is his drive to make a positive impact in his community, and over the last 15 years has found volunteering as a special constable provides the perfect avenue for that drive.

Some Specials take this route because they want to join the regulars (full-time officers) and they feel that this is the best way they can get the exposure that leads them into a regular officer role – but I’m a career Special. I’m not looking to become a regular. That means I’m more of a marathon runner than a sprinter. I don’t need to maximise my hours, because I’ve got other responsibilities.

Qasim is keen to note that maintaining a steady balance between his day job, volunteering, and other responsibilities is key.

It’s about balancing it out, not about burning yourself out. Because if you unbalance your workload in terms of your day job and “specialing,” effectively what happens is you get less effectual in both.

Something that policing – and the Special Constabulary – offers, is variety, as Qasim explains:

There are different types of policing – you have ICR (Incident and Crime Response) which is the blues lights, and there is the NHT (Neighbourhood Teams) – personally I think that’s where Specials are more effective. I know the buzz is in ICR and you want to go out with the regulars on 999 calls and everything else, but it’s about really building bridges with the community, and over time I think that’s really more satisfying.

The shopkeeper knows you, the locals know you, you build relationships with the people that some might refer to as the “trouble makers.”

You’re not just in a car driving around. I like to get out. I like to walk. I like to talk.

Specials wear the same uniform, receive the same training, carry out the same tasks, and hold the same powers as their regular counterparts, and at first glance, you wouldn’t know the difference. So, do Qasim’s “regular customers” know that he is volunteering his time?

No, they don’t. We wear the same uniform, except there’s an “SC” with a crown (on the epaulettes). Apart from that everything is the same. The people I see regularly in the community, some of the people who I’m really friendly with, they know what I do and they respect me for that.

The people that do know I volunteer feel that they can connect with me better than with a regular officer. It’s a different type of respect you get because effectively I’m not on the other side completely. I’m like you, I’m part of the community, but I’m just doing my extra bit.

Qasim is clear in the view that where Specials are most effective is when working with neighbourhood teams. Rather than simply responding reactively to incidents as they happen, ​​​​​​neighbourhood policing provides a localised approach, which allows officers to be accessible and responsive to the needs of the community by proactively addressing their demands and concerns.

It’s really about engagement. It’s about being out there. It’s about being visible, and visible in a positive way. When you’re walking the beat, that’s sometimes much more reassuring to the public.

As Qasim has mentioned, he considers himself a “career Special” – and now at the age of 60 he reflects what keeps him volunteering.

I love policing because I’m doing something that’s completely opposite to my normal work and I get a great buzz, but the buzz is also from the fact that I’m doing something that’s having a meaningful difference in people’s lives.

Ask any warranted police officer and they’ll tell you the same – that no two days in policing are ever alike. One day you may be pursuing a suspect on foot, the next you might find yourself conducting door to door enquiries looking for a missing person. You might be supporting a large scale event, or you could be out on a scene watch. So with that in mind, were there any recent jobs that have stuck in Qasim’s mind?

There was an incident couple of months ago with an elderly woman who had been a victim of fraud – she had lost £5,000. I was tasked to go there, speak to her, and do the initial report. I knocked on the door and was in my full uniform. I was alone at the time. “Hello, Thames Valley Police, I’m here because there’s been an incident” – and she wouldn’t let me in. She said: “but the person who did it was a police officer!”

She was in her late 80s and the person who carried out the scam got her to withdraw money from the bank. This person called claiming to be a police officer and told her that there was suspicious activity on her account and convinced her to withdraw money as a safety factor. So when I knocked on the door she wanted to be really, really sure.

She reluctantly opened the door and we waited for her daughter to arrive, who was hugely embarrassed, but her mother had just been scammed and was lacking in confidence with anyone. She could see that I was in uniform, I showed her my warrant card, and let them know they could call Thames Valley Police to confirm who I was.

I explained to her that if she spoke to the bank they may be able to help and also signposted them to Action Fraud. She wasn’t feeling confident in doing so, but she did do it with the support of her daughter there.

The bank did get her money back!

I got a call later to say “thank you, Qasim” and that if it hadn’t been for my confidence building and reassurance, they would not have taken that step.

That to me is the biggest reward. When people thank you and you know you’ve helped someone out.

With the responsibility and sheer variety of the role, training will obviously play a huge part in becoming a special constable. Initial training takes place over ten weekends and covers everything from learning about the law, through to officer safety, and this is all before you arrive on area and receive ongoing training and development.

The job does involve a lot of training. Some people who want to become a Special, wonder if they’re cut out for it or whether they’re going to be safe out there, but TVP do a fantastic job in training you and the training is very thorough. It’s not just the officer safety training – there’s also knowing the law, and there are a lot of refresher courses too.

As previously mentioned, Qasim considers himself a “career Special” and began his volunteering journey some 15 years ago. How would he reflect on his time in the role – both with Thames Valley and the Metropolitan Police?

I did five years at Thames Valley Police from 2009 to the end of 2014 and actually won Special of The Year in 2011! At that time the chief constable was Sara Thornton, one of the rare female chief constables in policing.

Qasim being awarded Special of the Year in 2011 by former Chief Constable Sara Thornton

Even back in 2009 I wasn’t a spring chicken but I took a lot of junior specials who were still in training and showed them the ropes. Training is one thing, but when you go out in the field, as they say operationally, it can be quite daunting.

At that time I was quite ambitious, I became a special sergeant and had a team of nine specials constables underneath me in that team. I left at the end of 2014 because of my job commitments, but returned in 2019.

It was during this break from policing that Qasim decided to take on a completely new challenge with a career change, moving into teaching.

I enjoy teaching very much and then a couple of years later I had the bug to get back into the specials, so I joined the Met for about 18 months before I returned to my original family at Thames Valley Police.

I joined the Met rather than Thames Valley because I wanted to get the feel of another police force – but Thames Valley was my first call and I came back.

With years of experience under his belt, Qasim has been able to ply his trade across the force, including Slough, Maidenhead, Windsor, Taplow, Gerrard’s Cross, and more – but does he have a favourite beat?

I’m not sure I’d go back because I was much younger, but my favourite was Slough. It was because of the diversity of people. There are so many different nationalities, and all those different nationalities have different challenges, cultural challenges, and you have to keep adapting and changing your approach.

I’m from an ethnic background myself and I sometimes utilise my language skills, plus I can relate to some of the cultures, so I’m quite useful if I’m with a regular officer who isn’t part of that community. I perhaps might be able to better understand what’s happening and I can engage and communicate with my colleagues. So it’s more diverse, more challenging, and I would say a bit more active as well.

Playing an important role in protecting the safety of the communities he serves clearly plays a big part in Qasim’s motivation. But volunteering as a Special isn’t the only outlet for those looking to give something back. Had it not been for the opportunity to volunteer as part of the Special Constabulary at Thames Valley Police, would you find him volunteering in some other capacity, or was the draw of policing the big factor?

If you have the need to help and to be there for people, I think I would be doing something. I probably would have liked working for a cancer charity. So I think the answer is “yes, absolutely.”

I think once you want to help, you want to help in everything. But policing is my first call.

When it comes to policing, and specifically volunteering as a special constable, people apply for different reasons. Some are driven by a desire to make a positive impact in the community, some see it as a stepping stone before joining as a regular, and others want to embrace the challenge and the opportunity for personal development.

Looking all the way back to 2009 when he first submitted his application to join TVP, what were Qasim’s motivations behind doing so, and what encouraged him to join?

It felt like crime was rising, and policing was in the news and media for all the wrong reasons, which seemed unfair if one bad apple ruins it for all of the others. There are a lot of police officers and a lot of specials who do really great work.

I’m not saying I could change the news, but I think every small thing you can do, you never know, you might make a positive difference. I also had an urgent need to get in there and do something for the community as well.

I could see in my own community that there were these pockets of criminality and antisocial behaviour, and you can talk about it and just look at it, or you could go out and do something about it.

All of that insight means that Qasim is in the perfect position to offer advice on becoming a Special. So what advice would he give to someone that was considering taking that first step and putting in an application to join?

I would say first of all ask to go on a ride-along (apply to take part in a ride-along). See a typical experience of what a police officer goes through – I think that’s very important.

You’ll wear a high-vis jacket and you’re there with a trained officer. You’re safe. But at least it gives you some idea what the job might entail.

Until you do it, you’ll never know if it’s really for you. You can think about doing something, or you can just do it. I have had no regrets doing it and I’ve had a really fun time.

The other thing that I feel is valuable is not just the impact you’re having by doing something that’s really positive, but it develops you as a person in the other aspects of your life. If you’re young, it’s about confidence building or how to engage with people. It really develops your personality, which is very, very important. How do you deal with difficult situations? How you can articulate and communicate effectively? How you carry yourself forward? These are all skills that you develop as a special and that can really impact the other aspects of your life as well.

If you’ve been inspired by Qasim’s story and would like to know more about being a special constable with Thames Valley Police, you can learn more and apply at our Special Constables page.

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