Background

Volunteers have actively supported Policing in Scotland for over 100 years, primarily in their capacity as Special Constables (SCs). The Special Constabulary continues to be an integral and extremely valued part of Police Scotland, reflecting in the strongest terms, the Service’s commitment to be reflective of the communities we serve. SCs provide a significant contribution to service delivery, contributing more than 60,300 volunteering hours in 2022.

Since the inception of Police Scotland, the number of SCs has reduced from circa 1400 in 2012/13, to around 440 in 2023. To provide context around these numbers, a full review of the existing SC numbers was undertaken early in the life of the single service, whereby it was ascertained a significant number of those recorded on legacy systems were not active. Direct engagement took place with each SC and records were updated to reflect the true volunteering position across the country.

In 2014 Police Scotland established a new volunteering group in the guise of the Police Scotland Youth Volunteers (PSYV). PSYV provides young people aged 13 to 18 years of age from a wide range of diverse communities, including 25% from vulnerable backgrounds, with a positive means of engaging with the police through regular training, participation in community safety initiatives and volunteering in their communities.

We have continued to witness an upward trend in the numbers of both youth and adult volunteers joining PSYV since 2014, and after work to re-establish existing and develop new groups in the aftermath of the pandemic, we now have 44 groups in operation. This brings the number of PSYV volunteers to almost 1100, with groups volunteered over 29000 hours, across Scotland in the last year.