Coronavirus: Former Cambs police officers could return to support force in virus response

In London, the Met Police has recently asked retired officers to consider returning to serve in a paid or voluntary role, while asking those nearing retirement to stay on.

In the past five years 219 officers have left Cambridgeshire police for ‘normal retirement’ reasons (e.g. not including medical grounds or dismissal).

And while there are no plans for them to be offered a full return to the force, there are “opportunities” for them to come back in a volunteer capacity to help with resources as police prepare for possible staffing shortages due to the pandemic.

A Cambridgeshire police spokeswoman said: “There are opportunities for retired officers to return to support the response to Covid-19 in the form of volunteers and other supporting roles within Cambridgeshire, however, as a force we do not have any plans to bring retired officers back to undertake full police duties requiring warranted powers.

“We have undertaken significant contingency planning work to model against the reasonable worst case scenario position and at this time we are not looking to bring back retired officers as fully warranted constables but instead to work with our Special Constabulary and other groups to ensure we have sufficient resilience.”

Asked if the force is actively contacting recently retired officers, the spokeswoman replied: “No, we are not actively contacting retired officers or those who have recently left. We have had some recently retired/left officers who have proactively contacted us.”

Police are currently patrolling Peterborough and the rest of the county to check if social distancing rules are being kept.

This includes patrols around supermarkets.

Police have powers to fine £60 or arrest people who have left home without a good reason or are gathering in a group, alongside other breaches of the lockdown.

However, the force said it will only take enforcement action as a “last resort”.

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