The City’s safety and security directorate has been fine-tuning plans over the past few years to provide opportunities to volunteers in a non-uniform capacity and now they have a 52-person strong corps in play.
The non-uniformed volunteers assist with administrative tasks and other support services, including IT support, community engagement and supporting crime prevention partnership programmes.
As the name suggests, they do not wear the Law Enforcement uniform, or engage in field operations.
The non-uniformed volunteers are supervised by the Area Law Enforcement staff, who coordinate their duties, and like their uniformed counterparts, are expected to complete at least 16 hours of service a month.
Additional non-unformed members
“This has been a long time coming and these civilian volunteers are critical to our operations. The public sees the officers on the road, doing patrols and roadblocks and pursuing suspects, but there is so much support work required to make it all happen, from ensuring that shifts are coordinated, vehicles are available and equipment is sourced and available for operational use. As our Law Enforcement Department operates on a 24-hour basis, these volunteers handle crucial administrative needs and reduce the load on permanent staff,’ said Mayco member for safety and security, JP Smith.
The City’s uniformed Law Enforcement auxiliary service has been up and running since 2013, with more than 250 members currently.
The addition of the non-uniform members takes the overall complement of volunteers to more than 300 who, as a collective, completed 18 896 hours of service in the three months between July and September.
Criteria
Those applying for civilian volunteer duties need to be 18 and have at least a Grade 10 qualification.
They should also:
• Be of good standing and have no criminal record;
• Not be the accused in an ongoing or pending criminal case that is of a serious nature;
• Subject him or herself to an internal vetting process;
• Complete the prescribed entry level cognitive assessment successfully;
• Comply with the City’s prescribed drug test policy; and
• Comply with any other conditions as determined by the Law Enforcement HR Branch.
