The Police Application Thread

[labbby]

@Burnsy2023
What kind of incident and/or how serious of an incident warrants a police helicopter to be at the scene for about an hour? They're not cheap after all.

Woken up last night at about midnight with one hovering right by my house with a spotlight (far brighter than i'd imagined btw) on a location up a track/field. A police car left and two more arrived, the helicopter left and another came back for a while. All seemed rather exciting. Come to think of it, there were no sirens..

If it's circling for an hour its probably a suspects on call it's dealing with. If you also saw blue flashing lights from response vehicles without sirens it will confirm that. The met actually keep india 99/98 up as much as possible, they can also be given tasking area's.

If it was late night, circled for an hour and response vehicles didn't use sirens i would put money on it being a burglary/suspects on though.

 

[Burnsy2023]

@Burnsy2023
What kind of incident and/or how serious of an incident warrants a police helicopter to be at the scene for about an hour? They're not cheap after all.

Woken up last night at about midnight with one hovering right by my house with a spotlight (far brighter than i'd imagined btw) on a location up a track/field. A police car left and two more arrived, the helicopter left and another came back for a while. All seemed rather exciting. Come to think of it, there were no sirens..

Could be any number of things:

• High risk missing person. Helicopter required to search large open area by the Police Search Advisor (PolSA) as it's hugely labour intensive using people. Large country parks, fields etc
• Searching for suspects from a serious offence such as robbery, burglary, etc who have decamped from a vehicle.
• Weapon incident such as firearm or knife.
• Seige or someone barricaded into a building.
• Observation of a large public order incident - unlikely here but worth knowing.

Mispers tend to be the most common.

 

[Yaayuh!]

Cheers guys. It'll not be a large public order incident, for sure.

I just found it odd, spotlight in one location for so long. Unsure on how many police cars were at the scene as I couldn't see and wasn't awake for the start of it. Just noticed one leave and two arrive.

Hopefully nothing too serious, but interesting to witness. I'll be sure to post back here on what it was when I find out.

 

[Quartz]

Next time, just ring the police non-emergency number to offer them tea and the use of your toilet. Then you'll be able to get the real skinny.

 

[labbby]

Could be any number of things:

• High risk missing person. Helicopter required to search large open area by the Police Search Advisor (PolSA) as it's hugely labour intensive using people. Large country parks, fields etc
• Searching for suspects from a serious offence such as robbery, burglary, etc who have decamped from a vehicle.
• Weapon incident such as firearm or knife.
• Seige or someone barricaded into a building.
• Observation of a large public order incident - unlikely here but worth knowing.

Mispers tend to be the most common.

Not heard of silent approaches for violent crime/disorder before with the main priority save life and limb.

 

[Yaayuh!]

Next time, just ring the police non-emergency number to offer them tea and the use of your toilet. Then you'll be able to get the real skinny.

There was a point where I felt an urge to go out and offer my assistance. But given how dark it was and the use of the helicopter spotlight, I thought I may have been a hindrance walking over like "How do fellas! Need a hand?" lol.

 

[Burnsy2023]

Not heard of silent approaches for violent crime/disorder before with the main priority save life and limb.

If it's at night, sirens often aren't used regardless of the incident unless you're going though particularly hazardous junctions.

 

[Quartz]

If it's at night, sirens often aren't used regardless of the incident unless you're going though particularly hazardous junctions.

I almost got run over by an ambulance that hadn't got its sirens on. It was on a blue light but the curve of the road hid the light.

 

[labbby]

If it's at night, sirens often aren't used regardless of the incident unless you're going though particularly hazardous junctions.

I get what you’re saying but never known that for in progress violent crimes even at night. I guess things may have changed.

 

[Burnsy2023]

I get what you’re saying but never known that for in progress violent crimes even at night. I guess things may have changed.

It might be force dependent, but it's not how we roll where I am.

 

[TNGL]

An update on my application for the special constabulary.

I received an email on Thursday night telling me to attend an assessment day on Saturday at 8:30am for the entire day. Yes, 1.5 days notice. I rang them up and was told this was the only day for now and that if I couldn't make it I would need to withdraw and apply again for the next day.

In the end I decided to withdraw my application, I can't attend a training day at the drop of a hat like that and if that is expected level of flexibility required, it is something I can't currently provide. There's a lot going on with my main job at the moment and I've decided my application was perhaps not best timed, irrespective of the short-notice for the assessment day.

One thing I did notice is on the portal they shared the vetting form - I was surprised it mentioned even having to declare anything about rail fare evasion. I've had two instances of this (although not deliberate): once after falling asleep following a night out and overshooting my stop about 5 years ago, the other after forgetting to renew my monthly ticket (last year) and so I was unintentionally using a ticket that had expired a day or two ago. Hopefully these things wouldn't taint my application to the extent of being precluded.

I'm not even sure if this counts as evasion/would have been logged? Or if they were referring to prosecutions for rail fare evasion (not sure if the above counts as an 'on the spot prosecution' or not if I am honest, both resulted in on the spot fines).

Anyway, I can cross that bridge when I next come to it (probably next year).

 

[AhhBisto]

So this is a rather interesting thread for me. I applied not many years ago to the met (after police forces were establishing a unified application process) I passed and was offered a grant for the CKP.

However what I witnessed was a shambles and decided It wasn't for me, during the interview stages candidates decided it was ok to torment others who had become over stressed by the process. You had one side of the room and the other and it couldn't be classed as anything but bullying.

The staff noted at the start that anything may be monitored and voiced my concern for some candidates well being and later offenders were removed before end of interviews.

Has anyone else here experienced that during interview stages and maybe further on?

 

[Quartz]

during the interview stages candidates decided it was ok to torment others who had become over stressed by the process.

Could the participants have been actors? With the bullying being done deliberately to see who takes action?

 

[dowie]

However what I witnessed was a shambles and decided It wasn't for me, during the interview stages candidates decided it was ok to torment others who had become over stressed by the process. You had one side of the room and the other and it couldn't be classed as anything but bullying.

The staff noted at the start that anything may be monitored and voiced my concern for some candidates well being and later offenders were removed before end of interviews.

Has anyone else here experienced that during interview stages and maybe further on?

Eh? I'm not sure how that is a "shambles" - you describe an issue with some of the candidates (not the process but the candidates themselves), you voiced your concerns and the issue was dealt with/those candidates removed, i.e. they presumably will not be future police officers now?

 

[AhhBisto]

Could the participants have been actors? With the bullying being done deliberately to see who takes action?

Looking back on it, they were very obvious didn't fit into the group of people I socialised with.

Does the met go to these tactics though?

Eh? I'm not sure how that is a "shambles" - you describe an issue with some of the candidates, you voiced your concerns and the issue was dealt with/those candidates removed?

Of course it was, people applying for a role to protect members of society who can't even act in a respectful manner to potential colleagues?

I'm guessing now there could be the potential of included actors for this reason, but at the time I felt at though even during the interview stages there was an issue with candidates and potentially future colleagues.

 

[dowie]

Of course it was, people applying for a role to protect members of society who can't even act in a respectful manner to potential colleagues?

Why though? They don't control the unknown candidates (beyond perhaps some basic filtering) - so how does that make the process a shambles, especially if those candidates you believe were unsuitable were removed?

I mean you get some very strange people applying to some military units too, especially units seen as somewhat elite or with an interesting role - they get filtered out rather early on... why would the presence of some unsuitable people who didn't pass make you think it is a shambles and decided the police wasn't for you?

You don't want to join because some bad people were there in the initial application process even though they won't actually be joining now anyway?

 

[AhhBisto]

Why though? They don't control the unknown candidates (beyond perhaps some basic filtering) - so how does that make the process a shambles, especially if those candidates you believe were unsuitable were removed?

I mean you get some very strange people applying to some military units too, especially units seen as somewhat elite or with an interesting role - they get filtered out rather early on... why would the presence of some unsuitable people who didn't pass make you think it is a shambles and decided the police wasn't for you?

You don't want to join because some bad people were there in the initial application process even though they won't actually be joining now anyway?

Well it's my opinion, there are other factors linked to wait, paperwork issues, staff not attending at time but I like to think we can hold the uniformed services at a higher standard then that of a supermarket.

 

[dowie]

Well it's my opinion, there are other factors linked to wait, paperwork issues, staff not attending at time but I like to think we can hold the uniformed services at a higher standard then that of a supermarket.

I know it is your opinion - I'm asking why? You say you think we can hold the uniformed services to a higher standard but your criticism hasn't been of the uniformed services but some rejected candidates who won't be joining them!

I don't really want to repeat myself here but are you not understanding the question or what I'm highlighting in relation to what you actually wrote?

 

[AhhBisto]

I know it is your opinion - I'm asking why? You say you think we can hold the uniformed services to a higher standard but your criticism hasn't been of the uniformed services but some rejected candidates who won't be joining them!

I don't really want to repeat myself here but are you not understanding the question or what I'm highlighting in relation to what you actually wrote?

I believe from what I experienced wasn't at the standard it should've been from start to finish. Everything was hours late, paperwork was lost, candidates who were extremely distressed were ignored and at least 30 candidates were in that room and so few showed genuine concern for others?

Im not going to go into it more because it was years ago and tbh it's what I felt at the time and maybe that would change if I decided to reapply but until then my opinion is just that.

 

[Burnsy2023]

An update on my application for the special constabulary.

I received an email on Thursday night telling me to attend an assessment day on Saturday at 8:30am for the entire day. Yes, 1.5 days notice. I rang them up and was told this was the only day for now and that if I couldn't make it I would need to withdraw and apply again for the next day.

In the end I decided to withdraw my application, I can't attend a training day at the drop of a hat like that and if that is expected level of flexibility required, it is something I can't currently provide. There's a lot going on with my main job at the moment and I've decided my application was perhaps not best timed, irrespective of the short-notice for the assessment day.

It's disappointing that their organisational skills were so poor. It's just unreasonable to expect people to attend with that much notice.

One thing I did notice is on the portal they shared the vetting form - I was surprised it mentioned even having to declare anything about rail fare evasion. I've had two instances of this (although not deliberate): once after falling asleep following a night out and overshooting my stop about 5 years ago, the other after forgetting to renew my monthly ticket (last year) and so I was unintentionally using a ticket that had expired a day or two ago. Hopefully these things wouldn't taint my application to the extent of being precluded.

I'm not even sure if this counts as evasion/would have been logged? Or if they were referring to prosecutions for rail fare evasion (not sure if the above counts as an 'on the spot prosecution' or not if I am honest, both resulted in on the spot fines).

Anyway, I can cross that bridge when I next come to it (probably next year).

The golden rule with vetting is "disclose everything". Disclose everything, including the penalty fares and write details of the circumstances. They're looking for integrity and honesty. Putting your hands up and saying you made a mistake in the circumstances you mention are unlikely to go against you. Failing to raise it may do though.