Volunteers on Horseback
Today we are highlighting the fundamental work that our Volunteers on Horseback (VoH) do, sharing their stories and showcasing the impact that they have on our communities. Their dedication, teamwork and commitment to serving the community showcase the values of our Force.
Working as an extension of our Neighbourhood Policing and Rural Crime teams our VoH make a difference by engaging with rural communities and assisting in public reassurance. Their role is crucial to the wider police service and builds trust and confidence within local communities.
To read more about the work and contribution of the amazing people who make up the team and their opportunities, visit our Police Support Volunteers page or if you are interested in being involved, please email [email protected].
Phil Croney, Citizens in Policing manager: Volunteers on horseback are riders and horse owners who provide their time or volunteer their time to support our neighbourhood policing and rural crime teams. They get to places where police officers and vehicles can’t normally reach, so they often provide us with information that we wouldn’t normally get to hear about or see.
Sarah Giles, Volunteer on Horseback: We’ve been working with the volunteers on horseback now for probably about two years. We first sort of started to do it mainly to sort of educate people on the roads with the horses and stuff.
Phil Croney: So our volunteers on horseback will identify suspicious activity, they may see suspicious people, suspicious vehicles, and they can collate that information and feed it back to our neighbourhood policing and our rural crime teams.
Emily Giles, Volunteer on Horseback: We incorporate our duties and patrols into our normal horse exercising routine. We have an app that we log our duty on whilst we’re riding. We will take note of any incidents we see or any matters we think that need maybe police attention, like abandoned vehicles or fly tipping or we’ve had, for instance, instances with people with out of control dogs.
Phil Croney: So the role is really crucial because without them we just wouldn’t see the things that they see on a daily basis. But it’s not just about the hard to reach rural areas, they also go into some of the more suburban areas, the footpaths, the bridleways.
Sarah Giles: When we’re out and about and obviously meeting people, we generally see quite a lot of families and stuff for the children, so the children are always really glad to see the horses and then they kind of see the horses interact with us and sort of talk about why we’re out on horses and what we do for the police.
Emily Giles: I just think personally for me, it’s very rewarding. We’ve been up to Brixworth, we’ve been around the rural communities with the PCSOs to sort of get in touch with youngsters and get them, you know, seeing police as friends rather than enemies.
Phil Croney: Volunteers on horseback also provide trust and confidence in their communities and are that additional link between them and their neighbourhood policing teams.