Volunteers are needed to help with hostage negotiation, animal welfare or victim support as part of a wide range of roles with Cambridgeshire Police.

The plea comes amid a new campaign encouraging more people to donate their time and expertise as unpaid volunteers to support local policing.

Titled ‘Step Up’, the campaign aims to raise awareness of the hundreds of volunteering roles available .

It features an emotive 90 second video urging the public to show their support.

A Cambridgeshire Police spokesman said: “Volunteers are playing an increasingly important role alongside their uniformed colleagues within local policing.

“There are currently more than 38,000 people working in over 200 different volunteering roles across the 43 Forces.”

Dave Jones, the Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police, which has co-ordinated the campaign, said: “Our ‘Step-Up’ campaign is about raising awareness of the exciting and numerous opportunities available, which range from cyber-related and hostage negotiation roles through to animal welfare and victim support posts.

“Our message is simple, with over 200 different roles, there’s something for everyone, regardless of your age, gender or skills set.”

All volunteers who sign up are given extensive training in order to prepare them for the role they are fulfilling.

For roles such as Special Constable, volunteers are given training over five months, working closely with colleagues in their local force before they start carrying out the role.

Nationally, police volunteers serve more than five million hours a year and there are currently more than 38,00 volunteers in existence.