The National Citizens in Policing Case Studies Project: Phase one report - Examples of interesting and innovative practice

The national Citizens in Policing case study project aims to identify interesting and innovative practice across direct citizen involvement in policing; this first phase report focuses on case studies supplied by forces in respect of Special Constables and Police Support Volunteers. This is the first stage of an ongoing process. Ultimately the ambition is to develop a comprehensive library of interesting and innovative practice across all forces and all elements of Citizens in Policing, which is online, upto-date, accessible and comprehensive. This will then provide a data base which those who lead and support this work in forces can interrogate to learn what new and innovative roles are being created in volunteering and to provide a vehicle to show case those roles. The first step of producing this report is a significant one, representing the first time case studies have been drawn together in this field in this way. Whilst the material that is collected here reflects some impressive innovation, it is acknowledged that it is not yet an entirely comprehensive capture of innovative practice countrywide. Further phases of the work will follow in coming months in order to continue to build the case study collection and to enable all forces to be able to fully contribute. The case studies collected together here do reflect a wide range of interesting and innovative ways in which volunteering is being taken forward across policing. Many of these innovations are quite new, and point towards an exciting period of different thinking across volunteering in policing. As policing faces new challenges, and grows in new ways as a result, the contribution which volunteers make will grow with it.