Challenges of Tasking PSVs

However, as Bullock (2014) highlights, matching PSVs to suitable placements is difficult to achieve. The challenge of sourcing and delegating meaningful – rather than just ‘busy’ – work (or tasks) has been recognised across volunteering more broadly (Shin and Kleiner, 2003). This presents additional complications within organisations such as policing – an emergency service where the vast majority of ‘business’ is delivered by a waged workforce. Ayling (2007:

90) acknowledges the complex nature of distinguishing between “appropriate and inappropriate citizen law enforcement activity”, enabling officers to “welcome the former and condemn the latter”. Tasks need to meet business requirements, as well as acknowledge volunteer skills, experience or preference, and usefully add – but not be central – to service delivery.

While stakeholder and volunteer manager interviewees in this study were keen for PSVs to undertake meaningful roles, they acknowledged challenges of sourcing tasks that were not critical to delivery of policing services. As volunteer manager Marsha commented:

“Preparing work for a volunteer can be difficult in terms of what do we prepare?

If the volunteer doesn’t turn up can we still carry on as business as usual? So it’s not being able to rely upon the volunteer too much, but to some extent having work for the volunteer to be there” (Marsha, volunteer manager interviewee).

In one volunteer interview, an officer was present in the room and commented on this issue – making points that the volunteer reiterated: [Referring to the volunteer interviewee] “I mean they are committed, they are passionate, but in theory, I could come in to work and they’re not here and there’s nothing I can do about it”. The volunteer interviewee, PSV Max, added: “Who’s to say we’ve got to turn up?” (Max, operational, altruistic PSV interviewee, male, over 65 years, long-term volunteer).

PSV Connor developed this theme further:

“You see the police have a lot of problems…with volunteers because they can’t rely on us. If I don’t want to come in I don’t come in…Therefore something which requires commitment to time and place and regularity is not really the sort of thing where volunteers fit comfortably. The police have trouble with that” (Connor, non-operational, social PSV interviewee, male, over 65 years, long-term volunteer).

Holmes (2003: 343) comments on volunteers, as “unpaid workers unbound by contracts of employment”, who have “traditionally been considered as unreliable and unprofessional”. The years of service that many PSVs in this study had given to policing, and nature of tasks that some of them carried out (e.g., viewing CCTV footage in high profile cases, staffing sometimes busy police station front counters) would contest this; however, the fact remains that volunteers, in theory, do present an uncertain and potentially unreliable source of labour. For this reason, and others related to issues of job substitution when involving volunteers in a paid workforce, navigating the place of the PSV within the police service, and enabling them to make the valid contribution that this chapter suggests is important, can be challenging.

This calls for clarity on the purpose of volunteers within the organisation and a comprehensive infrastructure to support their involvement – issues that will be explored in further detail in

5.6. Chapter Summary and Conclusion

This chapter has explored the roles that PSVs occupy and the tasks they undertake – a diverse assemblage including administration, operational support, community facing services, and other special interest functions (gardening, events management etc.) represented in this single force sample alone. The roles that PSVs carry out are often varied, flexing beyond the role description, and many freely give sizable amounts of their time to these. The descriptions that PSVs in this study gave of the contribution to policing that they felt they made through these roles pointed to three clear themes: freeing up officer and staff time; serving the community; and contributing skills and time. Analysis by role typology indicated that The Operational PSV was more likely to view their contribution in terms of serving the community compared to The Non-Operational PSV, particularly within survey data, likely driven by the representation of front counter volunteers included in this sample who gave their time in public facing roles. However, the PSVs in this study perceived their contribution to go beyond the offer of time and practical skills to support police officers and staff or serve the community, with narratives making reference to a host of unique contributions – of different perspectives, a long standing corporate memory sometimes stretching beyond that of the officers and staff alongside them, and their potential to advocate on behalf of the police service from their position as an ‘outsider’ on the ‘inside’.

While PSVs in this study presented largely positive views around the tasks they undertook and the contribution they made (i.e., interesting roles, tasks that they feel help their team, the MPS, and the community) there was more uncertainty around feeling that they were used effectively or had enough tasks to do. The Operational PSV survey respondent was generally less likely to agree that they were used effectively, and more likely to agree that they did not have enough tasks. With front counter service volunteers featuring heavily within The Operational PSV typology these findings may reflect footfall in some front counters, or heightened expectations of an anticipated contribution that operationally-focused PSVs may hold – which prove challenging to meet within an environment that sometimes struggles to task volunteers. Similar to Chapter Four, it was often The Career PSV that featured within notable divergent trends across contribution data, with PSVs in this motivation category amongst those feeling like they were used most effectively. Again, it was difficult to identify

the factors underlying this; however, as suggested in Chapter Four, The Career PSV may be less likely to continue volunteering (and, therefore, would not feature in the data collected for this study) if the role does not service their needs (including the contribution they hope to make). This perhaps reflects the more focused nature of career or personal development-type motivations, rather than broader ‘helping’ tendencies or social goals of The Altruistic PSV and The Social PSV.

While themes emerged around perceptions of contribution by role and motivation typology, some of the strongest patterns were seen within these ‘feelings about role’ variables. PSVs who agreed that they were used effectively were considerably more likely to feel satisfied in their roles, and less likely to agree that they did not have enough tasks compared to those who did not feel that they were used effectively – a trend that remained consistent throughout cross-tabulation of the other two survey statement responses (i.e., those who agreed that they were not given enough to do were less likely to state that they felt they were used effectively and less likely to feel satisfied etc.). Furthermore, the small proportion of PSVs in this study who were unsure about their future volunteering were less likely to feel that they were used effectively, more likely to agree that they were not given enough tasks to do, and less likely to be satisfied in their roles. Indeed, the tasks that PSVs undertook and the contribution they felt able to make in their volunteering roles held great meaning to PSVs in this study, and were influential on feelings of satisfaction in their role and their intention to continue volunteering – a theme that has been reflected in studies of Special Constables (e.g., Whittle, 2014) and broader volunteers in not-for profit organisations (e.g., Wisner et al., 2005).

PSVs’ narratives of feeling underused outlined in this chapter perhaps throw suggestion that the police are relying increasingly on PSVs in times of austerity in to some doubt. It is undeniable that some PSVs are undertaking roles that previously were carried out (indeed, still are in some locations) by warranted officers or paid staff – most notably on police station front counters. However, the sample in this study does not overwhelmingly point to PSVs neatly ‘slotting in’ to roles and taking on tasks that were previously held by officers and staff – but rather a cohort of volunteers who have the capacity (and – according to those who felt

in their roles. The next chapter turns its focus to the police organisation itself, considering the experiences of PSVs and their feelings of being valued and involved by others within the unique environment of policing – a space that arguably differs from many other volunteering

‘realms’.

6. Chapter Six: PSV Experiences within the Metropolitan Police