A Wiltshire man who was once rejected by the police for being too short is now celebrating 46 years of voluntary service as a Special Constable.
Ken Bridgeman, now semi-retired, first applied to join Wiltshire Police in 1975 but was turned down due to his height – police forces at the time required applicants to be at least 170cm tall.
At this time a Police Constable would have been started on a salary of £2,400 reaching to £5,286 as an experienced Chief Inspector. Today, a Police Constable would start on a salary of £28,551.
Undeterred, he took on a civilian role of detention officer, serving in that position for 26 years before working in intelligence in Swindon for a further seven years.
On 1 April 1980, he joined Wiltshire Police as a Special Constable – a voluntary role he has carried out for coming up to five decades. Specials have the same powers a regular officers.
Ken said: “I’ve worked in many departments in my special role including intelligence and football game management.
“The Specials Road Safety Unit was formed about ten years ago and I was one of the first to join it.
“I love the roads policing part of the police so when SRSU was formed I jumped at the chance of joining the department.”
He added: “I often get asked what is being a special like? I always encourage them to consider joining the police as a special constable as I find it so rewarding.
“I am a standard trained driver which means I can drive a police car on blues and two’s, and I am the first Wiltshire Special to be trained as an Initial Phase Pursuit driver.
“Not every day has been easy. I have been assaulted many times in my role but still love the job I do.”
Ken takes speeding and road safety extremely seriously. Watch him in action here:
He said: “The amount of road traffic collisions we have with pedestrians and other vehicles through speed shows you that speed does kill, it does maim and it does have life-changing injuries to some people.
“There is no reason to speed. We’ve all got speedometers in our cars.
“People say ‘I didn’t know it was a 30 zone’, but the signs are there, it’s written on the road.”
Explaining why he continues to volunteer, Ken added: “People often say to me, ‘Why do you do it, you don’t get paid’. I tell them that lots of people carry out voluntary work and don’t get paid.
“I do it because I like helping people and just being there when they need the police.”
More information on becoming a Special Constable can be found at www.wiltshire.police.uk.
