A day in the life of Special Constable Becky White

Bedfordshire County Council is making strong progress in creating safer and stronger communities. Special Constable Becky White reveals how, working alongside Trading Standards and the Community Safety team, she is doing her bit to tackle crime and the fear of crime.

Becky White has been a Special Constable for three years. She is one of three officers who were seconded to the Trading Standards team a year ago to form the Rapid Response Team, and are now part of the County Councils' newly formed Community Safety Team.

As part of the team, Becky helps to police our No Cold Calling Zones. Together with her colleagues Angela Williamson and Nigel Conroy, she is responsible for ridding the County of bogus callers and criminal traders.

The whole of Bedfordshire is now a designated No Cold Calling Zone. Concerned residents can simply call the Bogus Caller Hotline on 08454 040506 to report salesmen on the doorstep.

Becky has seen first-hand the difference that the No Cold Calling Zones have made. She says:

“As a direct result of the No Cold Calling Zones, there has been a reduction of doorstep incidents all over the County and a 13% fall in Bedfordshire’s Distraction Burglary crime figures.

There’s no getting away from the fact that there is a fear of crime in Bedfordshire. In reality, however, crime rates have reduced.

I certainly find this reassuring, and I know that our residents do too. ”

A large part of Becky’s job involves patrolling the County and consulting with residents on the issues that matter most to them. She explained how being a local girl from Bedfordshire comes in handy with this.

“Getting out and about meeting people around the County is an element of the job that I love. At the end of the day, I’m a member of the community too. As a resident I know what I want to see from my Council and from the Police. This is forever in my mind when I’m on the job, and helps me enormously when it comes to gauging the opinions of the people I serve.”

The public response to uniformed Enforcement Officers like Becky has been positive. Her greatest wish, and indeed that of her colleagues, is to be a constant and positive presence within the community.