Pictured above:
(Some of!) The Hampshire Constabulary Volunteer Team of the Year with Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney and Lead Chaplain Rev’d Dom Jones.
The team were presented their award in a socially distanced award ceremony in August 2020

The Force volunteer chaplaincy team launched in June 2018 with the deployment of the first volunteer chaplain. Chaplaincy sits within the Wellbeing offer for our officers, staff, volunteers and their families. Multi-faith volunteer chaplains, are representatives of all religions and none, they are people who possess a passion for their local community including their local police force.

The fundamental role of a chaplain is to provide safe, independent, confidential support and understanding to all, regardless of whether any defined religious belief is followed. The volunteer chaplaincy team are deployed Force wide based in different police stations to offer a confidential listening ear to those of all faiths or none.

The chaplains spend a lot of time walking around the stations building relationships with the officers and staff and also accompany them on operational patrol to get an insight into the policing world, chaplains also support Force wide events such as interfaith week, baby-loss week and inclusion week. They and have also “staffed” the wellbeing van during its visit to Basingstoke PIC after the death of PC Andrew Harper.

On Tuesday 19th June 2018, fourteen, brand new, volunteer police chaplains attended the Netley Headquarters in Hampshire Constabulary for their Induction Training with Police Chaplaincy UK. The new chaplains represent four, different faiths and have just recently completed applications, interviews and vetting. They are currently being deployed across Hampshire to support both officers and staff.

Rev’d Dom Jones, the Force Lead Chaplain, said: "I am so excited about the development of our team here in Hampshire. We are currently one year into our brand new adventure of having chaplaincy in the constabulary and to be launching with a team of multifaith chaplains is a major milestone for us. I look forward to seeing this fantastic provision develop further over the coming years."

Revd Adrian Gatrill from Durham delivered the training course for Hampshire Constabulary and chaplains from Thames Valley Police and Wiltshire also joined them for the day.

Those who attended the course were very positive about the experience and the content of the course.