Volunteer police officer takes next step in her career with Nottinghamshire Police

Mark Stephenson threatened officers with the weapon, swinging the knife towards them and trying to stab them whilst they tried to detain him.

Officers ended up using a spray and asps to control him, before making the arrest in Priory Avenue, Ravenshead on March 23, 2019.

But that frightening experience didn't put the then special constable Natalie Short, 21, off though, as she made the step up this year to become a full-time Police Constable after two and a half years volunteering.

She is now encouraging others to follow her path and become a special constable and make that route into policing.

Natalie said: “I was a special constable for more than two years and I learnt so much. It's a fantastic chance to learn more about policing and I took so much on board.

"Sure there are some experiences that you look back on and are quite scary, but we are there to protect people.

"I will always remember that knife job in Ravenshead. I think it will always stick with me. We were called to a domestic incident where a man was threatening a woman with a knife, and he was very aggressive.

"He had the knife against her throat and he then started to threaten officers with it.

"The man then pulled the two knives out on us and he was swinging them towards us. We thankfully did manage to detain him and there were no injuries.”

Natalie has been with the force volunteering and joined the force as a response office in July 2020 working at West Bridgford and Hucknall Police Station.

She has always had aspirations to join the police, and when she saw the opportunity to do it in her spare time alongside her university studies, she made the leap.

Natalie is now encouraging others to follow her lead. She had just finished a Policing degree, while being a special constable and she believes she was ready to make the step up.

She said: "I would encourage others to become a special and then make the step up because it’s a great way to find out if the job is for you and if you are going to enjoy it.”

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