A VOLUNTEER police officer has shared how he makes a difference in honour of his uncle who was murdered in Southend thirty years ago.

Michael Jacobs decided to become a Special Constable in 2008 after he was inspired by the outstanding work of Essex Police, who brought his uncle's murderer to justice following the violent knife attack in Southend in 1994.

He said: “This was my first experience of the police, and from this it really made me want to join the police and give back in a way where I could make a similar difference to other people that the police did for us all those years ago.”

Michael works with Sussex Police, alongside his brother who is a full-time officer in the force. Their grandfather had also been a Special in the Metropolitan Police.

“The prospect of being able to continue my day job and join the police was the perfect outcome,” Michael said.

Michael worked with response officers in East Grinstead and across mid Sussex, before joining the support team in Brighton in 2012 and not looking back since.

“I now work with the tactical enforcement unit where I have been since its inception, and like all the previous roles I’ve been involved with, I feel like a part of the team, no different to a regular officer. I am treated no differently, I get exposed to so much, sometimes things I can’t un-see, but many things I enjoy,” he continued.

“I always wanted to be at the cutting edge of policing to help bring down drug gangs and the most violent of people that can cause high harm and risk to the public.

“It’s a real privilege to work alongside such excellent police officers, all of whom are for me the best at what they do, and hopefully they feel the same towards me.

“I enjoy every minute of the role. The most satisfying part is writing my statement at the end of the job, and listing all the items, seized, the rational for arrests and all the work that has been done to that point, and I pinch myself sometimes and think ‘I did all that’.”

Michael, was awarded the Chief Constable’s Special Constable of the Year Award in 2023, thanks to his own outstanding work.

He added: “Police work gives me daily contact with people which I don’t have in my day-to-day job, and the camaraderie and togetherness really is rewarding for me and makes it even more worthwhile.

“I like to think that the shifts I do, and the hours I give, like all other Specials who are amazing makes a huge difference. It helps get more boots on the ground and it helps prevent crime and protect the public.

“If that one shift helps to prevent a crime or to apprehend an offender, that’s one that might have got away if I wasn’t on duty, and in my uncle’s honour it makes me feel proud.”