‘There are opportunities for me to develop as an officer’: Young Special excited for future

26 August 2024

While he may still be growing into his role in the Force, Federation member Lewis Davies has already experienced enough as a Special Constable to say he is fully enjoying police life.

As June marked a year since of the start of his Special Constabulary training, Lewis’ application as an officer in that period has seen enthusiasm counteract inexperience to very good effect.

His duties as a Special have slotted in nicely next to his day job as a paramedic, a profession he has been in for nearly four years. Fittingly, it was during a shift for one emergency service – West Midlands Ambulance – that his dwindled interest in another was reignited, the 26-year-old revealed.

“I liked the idea of being in the police from quite a young age, but as I grew up, being a paramedic came to the forefront of my mind,” he explained.

Special Constable Lewis Davies (second right).

“You obviously work with police officers as a paramedic sometimes, and one day, I just started chatting to a couple and they told me more about the role of a Special. I then realised there was a way for me to get into the world of policing without having to sacrifice anything else I had going on.”

Last November, Lewis completed training to become a Special Constable, starting a position in West Midlands Police’s neighbourhood team for Digbeth. A busy and demanding environment, the central Birmingham location meant he quickly grasped the fundamental differences between police and ambulance frontlines.

Incident

He added: “It’s pretty full-on. As a police officer, I can attend an incident where someone has been hurt and provide some initial medical aid. In ideal circumstances, you will obviously then surrender that to a paramedic, which can feel strange as that person would be me if the date and time were different on any given week.

“Preserving life is the fundamental purpose of a paramedic, but it’s only one part of the job for a police officer – you also have to focus on preserving evidence, witnesses, investigation, public welfare, and so on. I’ve had to learn to shift my mindset depending on which uniform I’m wearing.”

Lewis went on to discuss the ’unique’ nature of Digbeth, explaining how he sees the end product of working on patrol in the area as something of a hybrid duty between neighbourhood and response policing.

“It is still very much a community-based job, but ultimately, we are talking about one of the UK’s biggest city centres, so we are reacting to things every day.

“I am really enjoying that mix, though. You may be on a foot patrol, for example, but it’s high visibility – so you’re primarily acting as a neighbourhood officer yet there’s also a readiness for violent and anti-social behaviour, among other things.

“It’s not always easy, but it’s definitely rewarding.”

Inspiring officers

In addition to the fulfilment being unlocked by his day-to-day role activity, the Special Constable was full of praise for the high number of inspiring officers he has found himself surrounded by in the infancy of his police career.

“My Special Inspector, Inspector Maskill, has been brilliant with me from day one, as have so many colleagues, both Special and regular, some more inexperienced like me and some with many years under their belts. I think our Force supports Specials so well, to be honest,” he said.

“The Special supervision team is so visible when checking in and backing me up, and that means a great deal. They make it known there are opportunities for Specials to develop as officers in all sorts of skills – traffic, airport, homicide, Taser and many more.”

Lewis also identified the Federation as a contributing factor to his sense of optimism, describing its protection of Special Constabulary members as ‘100 per cent a great thing’.

He ended by looking towards his future: “I have the feeling I joined [West Midlands Police] at a good time. It seems like there is everything in place for Specials to feel valued, grow, and most importantly, make a difference.”