Federation delighted to offer Special Constables the same protections as warranted officers

SOUTH Yorkshire Police Federation is delighted to be able to offer the same protections to Special Constables as their warranted colleagues.

As part of the Police, Crime and Sentencing Bill, Special officers will be allowed to join their local Federation, something the PFEW has been campaigning on for years.

It means they are entitled to the benefits Federation membership entails.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair hailed the change in legislation as ‘brilliant news’.

“They should absolutely get the protection, and why shouldn’t they? They’re going out and doing the same jobs as our regular colleagues, and it’s right that they get protected by the Federation,” he said.

“When a special puts the uniform on, he or she knows that if they need our assistance, they’ve got it. In practice, we would have always helped anyway as much as we possibly could.

“But to make it regimented so that you’ve got a special and a regular in a position where something’s gone wrong, they’ve both had the same legal cover, the same rights, the same
protection from the Federation – it’s an absolutely brilliant piece of news.”