On that last point, I spoke to my Fed rep and made the point that the Fed should be encouraging all officers to nominate the existing bank holidays. All I got in response was the same explanation of 'yes, but you can choose your OWN bank holidays' - totally missing the point that co-ordinated action would scuttle that particular degradation of our pay and conditions.
The Police Application Thread
- Thread starter Burnsy2023
- Start date
Man of Honour
The Fed are as weak as water. While I wish them well I don't take much heart in them stopping Winsor 2. I hope I'm wrong.
At Andy, thanks for the clarification. I would certainly partake in co-ordinated action.
At Andy, thanks for the clarification. I would certainly partake in co-ordinated action.
Soldato
Yeah Norfolk, i imagine Suffolk too as we are gradually merging it seems..
Soldato
Anybody applying recently?
I am currently in the process of applying.
I am currently in the process of applying.
Which force?
Soldato
Kent
Are you a Kent resident? Applied before?
Associate
Fingers crossed for Cambs here. Good luck to anyone currently undertaking the application process. I've stressed myself out with my application, no answer seems good enough in my mind, although I am sure it probably is.
Soldato
I do live in Kent, I haven't applied before this is the first time.
Completed all the online questionnaire things they give you and have just sent off my actual application form yesterday, so now I wait and see.
My cousin recently got in, so he is a good source of information as to the process.
Burnsy you obviously started the thread, what has your experience been like since you joined? What you expected? Do you enjoy it?
Completed all the online questionnaire things they give you and have just sent off my actual application form yesterday, so now I wait and see.
My cousin recently got in, so he is a good source of information as to the process.
Burnsy you obviously started the thread, what has your experience been like since you joined? What you expected? Do you enjoy it?
Still trying to decide if I want to go ahead with my application or not for the Met, would not living in london, but being approx 30mins away on the train, be a disadvantage for the application?
Ideally I'd wait for Essex or Herts to open applications but I never seem to find out when they open.
Ideally I'd wait for Essex or Herts to open applications but I never seem to find out when they open.
Associate
I'd imagine the only people who could answer that are the guys in HR at the Met.
Try their website buddy, see if there is any info or contact details for recruitment questions.
So, first the positive stuff. I work with a great team of people who all get on really well, it's close knit and unlike any other team I've worked in. It develops a lot of skills that other jobs don't in the same way and it takes time to craft yourself into a good officer, but can be very rewarding when you get a good result from a random stop check that just didn't seem right.
Policing is inherently varied, but the more you do it, the more they all seem so similar. You generally know when a job has a chance of going somewhere or when you're just following the proceedure to get to the inevitable NFA decision. It can be frustring knowing that it's all a bit pointless, but you have to do it for the victims to know that the Police has done as much as they could. I don't mind that too much, it's just part of the job.
Now for the less positive. I've been quite lucky in Hampshire as the previous Chief Constable was very savvy with the finances and so we've weathered the cuts reasonably well so far. Other forces such as Dorset and ones in northern England (where they have large sparesly populated populations) have found the cuts much more difficult to date. However, Hampshire need to cut £25m for the start of 2015. We've cut all we can and now it means big restructuring to make the cuts possible. To put it simply, this is going to significantly reduce the service we can provide to the public. Senior officers will deny this, but the numbers simply don't add up and at the end of the day we can only provide the best service we can for the money we have - it's just this will be worse than what we deliver currently.
This directly affects officers on the frontline. Moral is low, very low in some parts. It's more and more difficult to find officers that enjoy their jobs and are hopeful for the future. So many want to jump ship but need to upskill before they can find work that pays the same, so they stay for the interim and their frustraions continue to keep moral low. It's also the fact that officers like doing a good job, most don't like to cut corners or give a poor service and the changes that are coming in make many feel that they will give a worse service which they resent.
Conditions are also an issue. There aren't as many officers as before and so there are less resources to deal with the current workload. This is workable most of the time, but when the wheels come off as they inevatably do from time to time, officers are kept on past their duty times and can't go home until they have permission, rest days are cancelled often at short notice which can be a nightmare for officers with young families.
I'd also like to point out that I'm not a regular and being a Special does mean that I don't have many of the same issues over conditions as a regular. That said, I'm never off on time anymore and you can't just leave halfway through a job. I don't want to sound too negative, but doing what I've done for the last 3-4 years, I wouldn't join as a regular. It's not the job many people think it is and the cuts are putting more pressure on officers.
I would encourage anyone who wants to become a regular to become a special first. Many forces require specialist qualifications such as a PLC or the more favoured CKP (which Hampshire fully fund Specials to do) and internally recruit first. Most importantly, it gives you a very real experience of what it's like to be a Police Officer - because you are one. The cuts have meant that forces rely on people like me to get the job done, because often there isn't anyone else. If you still want to be a regular after doing that, there's a good chance it's for you.
No it won't be a disadvantage for the recruitment phase. Recruitment is a pretty ridgid process and so things like this aren't taken into consideration.
Soldato
Thanks for that, very informative.
Associate
Very elegantly put, and you've pretty much hit the nail on the head there.
I'm a special, and joined in order to gain some insight into the role and ascertain if I felt I would be suited to it long term.
You're right, it isn't how you think it will be, but I am glad I joined as a special first and I am still eager to join as a regular.
We often end up with outstanding immediate's because we don't have the feet on the ground to cover them, but a bloody good job is done every day and we certainly don't have it as tough as some other constabularies.
Do you pretty much get out most of the time as a special then burnsy? I end up out at weekends, but juggling that with my normal job can be difficult and you can start to feel run down quite quickly if you aren't getting any downtime. I've done 400+ hours in almost the last year.
I'm regualrly covering grade 1 calls (immediate) as I work on response 90% of the time and dealing with jobs the sgt allocates me. Some of them will mean investigations that go on many weeks. The sgts are very open and say they treat me as they would any PC on shift and I can do 90% of what a PC can anyway.
In the last calendar year, I almost hit 1000 hours - yep that's around 25 weeks (nearly 6 months) of full time hours on top of a full time job. Some people would say I'm mad. Sometimes I'd agree with them.
Man of Honour
Not a problem for the Met. They get free rail travel and it was if you were within 70 miles of London and I've heard nothing that its been stopped.
As for Essex and Cambs, try their website or contact HR who will advise on recruitment. Some forces are now recruiting again despite savage cuts.
It's stopped as of Jan this year. TFL is still free but mainline and suburban rail services aren't now covered.
Thanks for the info, as I'd already be taking a pay cut to join the travel would cost approx 3K a year as well which is something I'm not sure I'd be able to live without along with the initial lower wage than I'm on now. I think I'll pass on the met for the time and see and wait if Herts or Essex recruit. I've previously contacted both forces via HR but get told to keep checking the website.
I've always regarded specials as "job worths that get sent when real police can't be bothered" much the same as I do the community speed watch people, which I know is the wrong attitude, it really does sound like something I should consider before applying as a PC.
How do you find being a special?
I do hope you change that attitude before becomming a PC.
I do the vast majority of the stuff a PC on response does, including going to emergency calls and most of the investigation and paperwork that goes with it. I am well utilised and skilled in a large part due to the support I have from the PCs and Sgts at my station. They put the investment to train me up and make me competant and I reduce their workload in return - and we have a good laugh along the way. I'm part of the team and treated as such.
So yeah, if you're a PC and can't be bothered to do you job, I suppose your attitude is correct, but that's a coversation you can have with PSD.