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Why settle for one set of blue lights when you can have two? A police community support officer has now doubled his emergency service credentials by qualifying as a retained firefighter.
Jon Arey has been a full time PCSO with West Yorkshire Police for five years, and now also provides on call cover in his spare time at his local fire station in Marsden. A typical day for him includes patrolling the beat as a PCSO and, excluding travel time, the remainder of the 24hour period he is on call for fire and rescue calls from home, where he is alerted via a pager system.
“It can be restrictive and I do give up a lot of my time, but it is worth it and I can’t think of anything more I would like to give my time up for,” said Mr Arey, who is also a father. “I wanted to remain a PCSO because I enjoy my work, but I also wanted to develop myself and gain new skills and experience, which the fire and rescue service has allowed me to do.”
Before joining West Yorkshire Police, he worked in a call centre and admits the closest he got to his
current professions was as the designated first aider. Surprisingly, he also finds time for hobbies including climbing and teaching martial arts.