Police seek helpers — masseuse may apply

Police officers could have the stresses of the day soothed away at the end of their shift with a relaxing massage.

A new voluntary services co-ordinator for the policing division that covers Newark is looking for more than just the traditional helper to staff the front counter.

Tracey Clay, who has a health service background, is looking for people with diverse skills to help police and the communities that they serve — and that could include a masseuse.

She said: “Where I was before, at a hospice, it was a huge bonus for the staff to have 20 or 30-minute massages and that would work within Nottinghamshire Police, too.

“There are a great many skills that can be transferred into the voluntary sector.

“It isn’t like a job application where all of the boxes have to be ticked. For instance, if somebody has an interest in cars they might want to wash police vehicles.

“The cars have to be clean and that would free up the officer from doing it, allowing them to be fulfilling their primary role, she said.

“It needn’t necessarily be front counter work, although we do need volunteers there.

“It could be anything — massage, media studies with the divisional communications officer, filing and clerical, managing property stores, reviewing CCTV, delivering leaflets.

“We also need people who speak foreign languages and people to look after court witnesses and keep them apart to avoid cross-contamination of evidence.

“We also need people to show us, on the IT side, how we can develop things like Facebook.”

Tracey Clay said volunteers, who would not go out on inquiries, would be subject to the force’s stringent vetting procedure.

“Volunteering is a huge bonus to have on a CV and shows willingness to learn new skills. You also get the satisfaction of serving your community,” she said.

She said she wanted a commitment of at least two hours a week for six months and reliability, honesty and integrity were among the characteristics she would be looking for.

Volunteers are not paid, but expenses are covered and meal allowances given for four or more hours of consecutive duty.

The stations where volunteers are needed are Newark, Collingham, Ollerton, Southwell and Blidworth. The Farndon and Balderton police contact points are currently fully staffed by volunteers.

“There may be people out there who have lost their jobs and want to get back into employment, work part-time or are studying,” said Tracey Clay.

“It may be for people who perhaps want to become police officers or community support officers and want to use volunteering as a means of finding out if it is what they want to do.”

Mr Pete Butts (62) has been a volunteer with B Division, which covers Newark and Sherwood, Bassetlaw and Worksop, for about seven months.

He started after selling his delivery business and retiring.

“I retired without really planning it and I realised I needed to be doing something,” he said.

“There were lots of voluntary services I looked in to but the one that appealed to me was the police because it sounded a lot more interesting than anything else.”

Mr Butts has helped to organise and manage property stores in stations in the area and has also audited all the division’s police cars.

“Because of my background I’ve been given lots of projects to do,” he said.

Mr Butts said jobs were available that would suit people with a range of skills.

“Any skills a volunteer has can be seen as qualities,” he said.

Tracey Clay is based at the divisional headquarters at Worksop Police Station but is happy to travel to the nearest police station to meet would-be volunteers for an informal chat.

She can be contacted on 07595 006180 or via email at tracey.clay@nottinghamshire.pnn.police.uk