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Employer Supported Policing

About ESP

Employer Supported Policing (ESP) is an innovative partnership between the Metropolitan Police Service, employers across the capital and their staff, to offer a fantastic personal and professional development opportunity for staff and employers, to provide extra security for employers and to help towards making London safer in a significant way.

ESP is simple but powerful: staff at all levels of business and other organisations across London volunteer to be Employer Supported Special Constables (volunteer police officers) and once intensively trained, they carry out patrols in key areas during a small proportion of their usual working hours, with the same powers and backup of full-time police officers to tackle crime head-on and provide reassurance to the public.

Employers work with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to get their staff involved. These individuals then get a few hours of paid special leave every fortnight to patrol as a Special Constable in areas relevant and/or local to their day job or employing sector. The MPS run and administer the programme and provide in-depth training, uniform, equipment, ongoing development and the backup of the Metropolitan Police Service. Successful recruits are also provided with free travel on and off duty on London’s tubes, buses, Tramlink, London Overground (TfL Rail) and the Docklands Light Railway.

As well as the employer, the staff member and the MPS making a direct contribution to policing in London, a key benefit for an employer is the training for their employees which includes a wide range of transferable skills from in-depth police training which staff bring to bear in their usual day job. Special Constabulary training is described by many as a life-changing experience and the experience gained makes a significant impact on and off duty.

As well as our main ESP scheme for employers and staff across a wide range of sectors, the programme also has five distinct partnerships including ESP ShopWatch with the retail industry, ESP Hospital Watch with NHS & Primary Care Trusts and ESP Borough Beat with Local Authorities.

Is your organisation interested in joining the ESP partnership and receiving the benefits that police training for your staff can bring? Or are you an individual thinking of joining ESP or encouraging your employer to take part? Please take a look around this website or use our online form to get in touch.

If you are a member of staff of an employer which supports ESP and you want to get involved, then you can start your application in five minutes using our ESP Fast Track form.

The ESP Family

As well as the main ESP scheme, there are also five industry-specific schemes, tailored to work specifically with those industries, making best use of staff's existing industry knowledge and with policing directed towards those areas. Our main scheme, for all sectors and industries not listed below

Art Beat - Tackling fraud and forgery in the world of arts and antiques
Borough Beat - For local authorities, staff and communities
Bus Beat - For bus operators and related organisations
Hospital Watch - For NHS hospital trusts, making London's hospitals safer
Shop WatchFor the retail industry and staff, tackling crime in stores and on the high street

Employers - get involved

Why not help your employees be there for London in 2012, the year of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Get involved before 30 November 2011 and your staff could be trained, on the beat and in your business in time for the most high-profile year London will see for a generation.
Contact us online or call us on 020 7161 2651 to get started now, or find out more detail on getting involved

Employees

If you're an employee, more information on the ESP scheme.

Apply online now

You can start your application right now by filling in our simple online ESP Fast Track form. If your employer supports ESP, visit the form now to get your application underway.