A NEW special constable could be tied to Billericay as part of a drive to stamp out petty crime and antisocial behaviour.

Billericay Town Council is currently in talks with Essex Police about funding its own volunteer police officer which will be dedicated to the town.

It is understood that the officer will patrol the town centre and deal with issues solely in Billericay - unless there is a major incident, such as a terrorist attack, nearby.

Town council chairman Jim Devlin told the Echo that the authority will need to drum up about £4,000 for the first year and £1,000 a year after that for the post.

Of the initial funding, It is estimated that £2,250 will be used for local advertising and recruiting costs, £500 will be for equipment and £1,000 will be for yearly expenses.

Mr Devlin said: “I attended a police conference and they explained that there is a campaign to recruit more special constables and that the police could come up with an arrangement with various local authorities.

“The arrangement would be for local authorities to get involved in the recruitment costs and covering the expenses, then the special constable will be allocated to that area.

“Initially there would be some equipment costs because they wouldn’t be based at a police station, they would be based out of our offices.

“We need to explore the formal agreement between us and the police and put it to the council.”

Special constables are required to volunteer a minimum of 16 hours a month, but on average actually volunteer 24 hours a month.

Mr Devlin added: “Sixteen hours a month for somebody to patrol Billericay would be a massive improvement.

“Residents feel that there is nobody around to deal with dog fouling and antisocial behaviour and this will help.

“We want to address people’s concerns.”

Special constables are volunteer police officers who have the same police powers, uniforms and equipment as regular officers but sacrifice their free time on a voluntary basis.

For more information or to apply to join the special constabulary, visit police.uk/join-the-police/special-constabulary.