Meet our people

“I have always wanted to become a Police Officer, however, back in my day the officers had to be a minimum height of 5ft 6 inches, so my lack of height let me down. So I followed my second choice of career which was psychiatric nursing. I have had a successful career, been in a variety of managerial roles and now I am a nurse practitioner specialising in aesthetics and wellbeing.

I am still very giddy at being given the opportunity to join North Wales Police and value and respect all the officers and staff that I have met along the way.

I recommend joining the Specials to everyone I know, as I feel honoured that I am able to give back to the community some of my nursing experiences, along with my new learnt experiences from the force."

“I wanted to join the Specials to get an insight of what police officers do on a daily basis, but most of all to give back to the community.”

I am Acting Special Sergeant Shane Hughes 9643 of Eastern Roads Safety Unit / RPU.

In addition to being a Special I am also an Implementation and Remote Support IT Technician for Heidelberg Engineering UK as my day job. This involves working in the medical devices industry in which we make and distribute high end cameras which take the photo in the back of your eye. This can detect diseases up to three years in advance. We work alongside the NHS and high street optometrists. Currently I look after the whole of the UK on help desk and also going on site to install the IT side of the camera.

Fun fact: one of our cameras is actually physically on the International Space Station with NASA!

I joined as a Special to become a full time police officer, however priorities have changed and I am now looking forward to my career within the Special Constabulary in RSU and do not want to take my policing career forward in the regulars at this time.

The Special Constabulary has given me many opportunities. It has built my confidence massively and since joining the Road Safety Unit I have gained new skills and knowledge from undertaking specialist training that the role requires. I really enjoy the Special Constabulary and would not know what to do without it!"

"I started my career in Cheshire Constabulary as police staff and now work for North Wales Police as staff too. I wanted to join as a Special because I have a good general knowledge of how different administrative staff roles work within the police and wanted to see what it was like being operational. I also thought the knowledge I’ve got from my support staff roles could be useful for the regular officers (which I hope it is!).

Since joining I’ve really enjoyed the role; no two shifts are ever the same and you never know what you’re going to be called to. I’ve learnt so much about operational policing, and there’s still so much to learn. I’ve met some great new friends and experienced things I never thought I would.

Being a Special is a great way to give you an idea of what it’s like to be a police officer (if you’re considering it as a career), but also a great way to spend your spare time by helping people and making the community a safer place, even if you don’t want to join full time. All our Specials are from different roles and backgrounds and have so much knowledge from different areas that make them invaluable in their own way to the policing family."

I served with North Wales Police as an officer from 1997 until 2018, having previously served in the military. I was a dog handler for many years, during which time I would regularly host Special Constables during some shifts. These shifts gave them an opportunity to witness at first hand the role of a specialist officer. This sparked my interest in joining the Special Constabulary upon my retirement as a regular officer. I felt that with my policing and training background I could make a worthwhile contribution to the Special Constabulary. This also allowed me to remain part of the policing ‘family‘.

I have witnessed the positive development of the Special Constabulary over the years. Today’s Special Constables continue to show themselves to be committed and competent officers that are a highly thought of and an accepted part of the wider North Wales Police Team

In my current role I am responsible for all Special Constabulary officers supporting the districts of Gwynedd and Anglesey. What I enjoy the most about my role is contributing to the development of new members our teams and watching how they grow in confidence and competence and in many cases progress to becoming regular officers in North Wales Police.

I would strongly recommend serving with the Specials."

“I wanted to join the Special Constabulary to help others and give back to the community.

The thing I love about my role currently is being able to help newer Specials and help their confidence grow. My ambition for the future is to continue to what I’m doing now and to welcome more specials to my team and help them to grow as well.

The leadership, knowledge and experience I have gained from my role as a Special Sergeant has helped me climb the ladder in my full time occupation. I would recommend anyone to join the Special Constabulary whether you have ambition to join as a full time officer or just want to be a Special Constable, every day is different and you can gain lots of transferable skills."