For our civilian readers who might not know, a Special Constable is a volunteer police officer who dedicates their own time, for free, to help try and keep the public safe.
Special Constables are a vital part of the police family.
They provide an invaluable resource to senior officers in the fight against crime.
Special Constables have the same powers, the same uniform and the same kit as regular police officers, but they give their time for free.
So it is no surprise that, when a special constable based with the British Transport Police (Greater Manchester) was scorned by a member of the public for daring to buy a sandwich whilst on shift, that the BTP tweeted a message to the unknown person who decided that police officers should not be allowed to eat during their shift.
A tweet shared by @BTPGtrMcr said:
“We would like to apologise to the member of the public who was offended by our @BTPSpecials officer getting a sandwich earlier this evening when he should have been out on patrol.
“Having worked his day job then worked a late shift for free, he became a bit peckish”.
Editors Comment
The vast majority of decent-minded members of the public really do not care if they see a member of the emergency services buying some food during their shift.
In fact, we often hear from members of the emergency services who have been touched by the kindness of someone who has actually paid for their food, without being asked to do so.
More often than not, these kind hearted individuals will pay for, as an example, a police officers food without even telling them.
When the officer gets to the till, then they are told that the food has already been paid for.
I had the same happen to me one – when a kind member of the public paid for some chips that I had ordered.
Unfortunately, however, there still seems to be a gaggle of individuals out there who, for some common-sense-defying reason, think that emergency services personnel should not be buying their food whilst on duty.
It wasn’t too long ago that we reported on a story where officers, having just purchased some food, prevented
I am sure that most members of the public would prefer to see a police officer out-and-about instead of them being confined to their station whilst doing something that is essential for the survival of the body: EATING!
CLICK HERE to visit our GoFundMe Page
Got a story, video or one-off blog that you would like to share with us?
You can contact our team of former emergency services & armed forces personnel either through our Facebook page, via Twitter ( @ES_News_ ) or you can contact us via email: contact@emergency-services.news or call us on: 0115 888 0592
If you run or manage a ‘job’ social media account and you would like us to share one of your stories then send us a tweet or a message!
If you would like to write an article that you would like us to share (it can be about anything to do with the emergency services / NHS) whether you serve in the emergency services / NHS or whether you are a member of the public who has had a good experience with the emergency services, then feel free to contact our team; anonymously if you prefer.
We are proud to act as a voice for the emergency services, armed forces & health service, with over 500,000 people visiting our website each month.
Join our WhatsApp community!
ESN is now on WhatsApp, and we want you to join our 'read only' channel.
To join, you need to have WhatsApp on your device. All you need to do is click the link and press 'Join community'.
No one will be able to see who is signed up, and no one can send messages except the ESN team.You won't get any 'SPAM' just news stories & videos written & produced by our team of former emergency services personnel.
Joining our WhatsApp channel is a great way to help support our work and best of all, it is free!
If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community, click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.