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Bristol Zoo – 2 volunteer
managers, 120 volunteers
Volunteers with criminal records
'However, we did once have a really worrying incident.
One of our volunteers was doing a public talk, and was
recognised by a member of the public as someone who
had a conviction for sexual offences
involving children. He hadn't mentioned it because he
knew that in that case we couldn't allow him to volunteer.
'I wasn't sure that he'd been involved in this incident,
because it might have been a case of mistaken identity.
However, we invited him for an informal chat
and he admitted frankly that he had been convicted of
the sexual offence, and he resigned immediately because
he realised he couldn't stay on. It was a shocking event,
but it did make us look closely at the way that we recruit
volunteers.
'Criminal checks weren't available
to us at the time. Now, we still take people on trust,
but there's a much clearer application form and interviewing
procedure than before, and we make sure we get references
too. We also try to recruit people who've volunteered
before, so that we can get an idea of what they're like
from the previous organisation.'
'We're still keen on taking ex-offenders,
and we often have people referred by addiction recovery
agencies or homeless charities. There are some ex-offenders,
such as those with convictions against children or involving
money, that we don't take for security reasons. But
otherwise, I believe that volunteering means that you
get up in the morning with a purpose to your life. That's
important to everybody – whether they have a criminal
record or not.'
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