Officer quits and rejoins as Special: ‘I’ve got the best of both worlds’

18 December 2024

The journey from Special Constable to cop is a well-trodden path, but one former Dyfed Powys officer has flipped this on its head.

Luke Taylor, who joined the Force as a PCSO in 2010, became a PC with North Wales and returned to Dyfed Powys in 2015 where he spent a decade on traffic in the Roads Policing Unit.

In September last year, he decided to quit policing for a new role with Natural Resources Wales (NRW), working in Waste Regulation and Enforcement, but retained his links with the Force by switching over to the Special Constabulary.

Luke explains: “I hadn’t intended to leave, but unfortunately, working irregular hours and night shifts was taking a serious toll on my digestive system, making me quite unwell. When you are attending a road traffic collision (RTC) for hours, with no access to water or the toilet, your digestive system goes into overdrive or stalls completely. These issues got worse for me as time went on, and I was eventually diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Luke Taylor who joined the Force as a PCSO in 2010.

“I approached my chief inspector, said I was leaving, but asked if I could stay as a Special Constable. They were very supportive. Obviously, they didn't want to lose me, but they respected my decision. I was allowed to finish on the Sunday night at 11.59pm and become a Special Constable at a minute past midnight.

“I've kept my advanced driving ticket so that I'm still able to drive on advanced level as I was on traffic, and I've stayed attached to the specialist operations department in Roads Policing. Nowadays, being able to eat, drink, and sleep regularly has improved my health tremendously, not discounting the huge family benefits.”

Luke admits he does miss the camaraderie of being a regular police officer, which ‘you don't get that elsewhere’, but he believes his current situation gives him ‘the best of both worlds’.

Permits

His role with the NRW utilises the skills he gained as a police officer: he checks waste carriers have got the relevant permits, comply with legislation, and involves himself in activities ranging from end-of-life vehicle dismantling to inspecting household waste sites. He also gets to work in fisheries enforcement.

Speaking about those transferrable skills, Luke explains: “I’m still investigating offences, conducting interviews and prosecutions. In conflict management and resolution, you deal with people on your own, quite a lot, who are not very happy to see you. So, the skill set from the police feeds into that nicely, as does the risk management and decision-making process.”

Luke’s passion for policing developed thanks to a friend who was a police officer and ‘extolled the virtues’ of the role, and it was also due to tragic events when he was a teenager. Luke’s neighbour, a man in his early 20s, died in a motorcycle crash, and a while later, one of his friends also died in a crash.

“I thought, if I could stop even one person from being killed on the road because of someone else's actions or even their own, then I had to be a part of that,” said Luke.

Blue lights

He wound up as a Senior Investigation Officer for fatal and serious injury collisions with Dyfed Powys. The qualification allowed him to oversee fatal and serious injury collisions and be part of the investigation process, getting to the bottom of what had happened and trying to get some justice.

Despite seeing too many tragic scenes, Luke quickly points to the upsides. There are positive results, varied days, and the ‘undeniable excitement’ of getting to drive under blue lights.

Since rejoining as a Special Constable, Luke has a few more arrests under his belt, including drink and drug drivers and liaised with his old traffic colleagues in Aberystwyth to arrange joint operations between the police and NRW.

“We worked together on a joint operation tackling waste offences. I am not empowered to stop cars anymore, but they can, so I've dealt with our offences, and they’ve dealt with traffic offences they’ve come across,” added Luke.

Having the link to the Dyfed Powys Police and knowing who to speak to and who to arrange it through made this possible.

Special Constable

Luke contributes around 20 hours per month as a Special Constable, with his new employer giving him seven days paid to volunteer. He has been doing ‘a lot of Sunday shifts’ over the summer in support of Operation Darwen, the campaign for reducing serious injuries and fatalities involving motorbikes in North Wales.

The big revelation for Luke is how transferrable the skills that he learned as a police officer are. These include investigation, people skills, conflict resolution and conflict management.

He ended: “A lot of people in the police, particularly PCs, think that's all they can do. Then, when you explain that the skills you've got are of tremendous value to employers outside of the Police Service, they are quite surprised.

“I don't want to suggest an exodus from the Police Service, but if it's the right thing to do for somebody like me because of health reasons, there are opportunities out there. And leaving doesn't have to be the end. If you really enjoy the job and you want to still contribute something you can through being a Special Constable, it's an option, as long as the Force you are in supports it.”

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