A SHOPPING centre in Bradford has joined forces with West Yorkshire Police by putting four employees forward to train as special constables.

The Kirkgate Centre is piloting the force’s ‘Be Special’ scheme by putting four employees forward to train as special constables.

The ‘Be Special’ campaign trains individuals to become volunteer police officers who provide a range of duties, including creating a link between the police and the community.

Marc Hemingway, 34, from Bradford, is the first of four Kirkgate Centre security staff to complete the initial training.

He said: “I collected my warrant card and uniform at an event held at Bradford College last month. I’ve still got around 12 months of accruing volunteer hours before I’m fully ‘qualified’, but I’m thoroughly enjoying the role so far.

“I feel a real pride in the uniform and the experience has been extremely beneficial to my job at Kirkgate Shopping.

“Special constables volunteer their own time to the police force and in April I’ve been assigned to work on crowd control at the Tour de Yorkshire event which will be a really interesting occasion.

“We can also be called out to major incidents so there’s a real feeling of added responsibility.”

Mr Hemingway added: “I had a lot of support from the centre’s management team and received funding from City Centre Beat throughout my training which allowed me to continue getting a salary and not use my holiday entitlement.

“I’m really thankful to Kirkgate Shopping for believing in me.”

The Kirkgate Centre plans to have a special constable on duty every day, increasing during busy periods.

Kirkgate Centre’s operations manager, Bill McCormack, said: “Our special constables are like police officers in the workplace, they have the same powers of arrest and we can see they hold the same pride for the uniform.

“We are already witnessing other local businesses follow in our footsteps to join this brilliant scheme and would urge them to invest in and support their staff as we have.

“The boost to the individual’s morale and sense of pride in the role is something we feel very strongly about encouraging across our entire Kirkgate team.”

Mirko Maric, security manager at the Kirkgate, said: “Marc is one of the first of four Kirkgate Shopping security staff to start his journey as a special constable. After seeing the positive changes this has brought through increased confidence and pride, we are looking forward to watching the three other members of our security team flourish through the ‘Be Special’ scheme.”

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