The Police Application Thread

[Burnsy2023]

Burnsy you obviously started the thread, what has your experience been like since you joined? What you expected? Do you enjoy it?

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.

 

[Burnsy2023]

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.

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.

 

[Burnsy2023]

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.

 

[Burnsy2023]

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.

It's stopped as of Jan this year. TFL is still free but mainline and suburban rail services aren't now covered.

 

[Burnsy2023]

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.

 

[Burnsy2023]

Sorry but why should the Police get free travel? No wonder the UK's citizens are taxed beyond belief.

The Met pay TFL so they can make sure that they can post officers all around London without it being a logistical nightmare for the officers concerned.

 

[Burnsy2023]

would applying to become a special to **** of the woman at work whose done it and now flouts around on a high horse all high and mighty be wrong?

cause her ending up on the beat with someone shes described as a degenerate would be worth the hassle.

Nice thought, but a) you wouldn't pass recruitment and b) it'll be at least a 12 month wait at minimum. You may not both still be working together by that point.

 

[Burnsy2023]

Northants Police are having a big drive but they're doing it for the wrong reason as do most coppers these days :/ Not for giving back it's more for looking down on someone. They talk about how you'll have the same legal authority as a regular copper. -_-

Most forces are trying to get as many Specials as possible to plug the gaps. The reason they mention the powers is that there is a common confusion about Specials and PCSOs which they are trying to dispel rather than appealing to a certain demographic.

 

[Burnsy2023]

she started way less than 12 months ago.

From application submission to attestation, the timescale is usually in excess of 12 months.

and what part would i fail on lol

Medical for one, but I don't think it's a good idea to start discussing that.

 

[Burnsy2023]

I didn't realise PCSO and Specials were different things

Just looked it up. So Specials are pretty much unpaid part time police officers as far as uniform/powers go etc?

Yes, same powers, same uniforms and I do much of the same job. Tasking varies depending on force though. Different forces can utilize Specials very differently. Hampshire are very progressive and have Specials working in specialist departments. For example, we have Specials on the marine unit, so they drive boats and have all of those specialist skills, we have specials in CID, Roads Policing and Special Branch, so there is a lot of ability to grow. The opportunities are only getting wider as forces look to utilize Specials more.

 

[Burnsy2023]

To be honest. I doubt they have handcuffs. They can only detain for 30 minutes. Specials are normally on duty with paid officers whereas PCSO's work a beat in town centres etc.

e; PCSO's are allowed to carry and use them yet they are not often given them.

Some PCSOs have handcuffs such as BTP and a Welsh force (which one I forget). Their role isn't the same as a Police Officer's though, they are ring fenced to do some of community engagement work which is also a key part of the neighbourhood policing model. It's like a controller doesn't have any powers, but that doesn't mean they're not crucial in their role.

As for crewing, most of the time I am single crewed, so aren't crewed with a PC. Its actually quite nice when there is enough officers to double crew.

 

[Burnsy2023]

But going back to your earlier point. I had a conversation over twitter with a special over here and we have quite a few that are highly trained

I've heard of a trial in a force in the midlands who are having some Specials to be part of their Tactical Support Group (similar to the Met's TSG) which is some seriously Gucci training.

 

[Burnsy2023]

That's not happening in west Mercia or West Midlands so unsure which force that rumour has originated from. In west Mercia specials have been given the opportunity to join OPUS, ie road policing, dogs. No further training however.

It's another force

Good to read you re part of the investigation process burnsy, specials don't have that in my force. Can you interview in custody on your own and compile full mg files (6cde etc)? If so that's pretty cool

Yep, interview in custody, CPS advice and then full file prep. I'm getting more training soon for things like mobile phone examinations plus lock drilling/snapping, so that's also going to be useful.

It's really dependent on force and how forward thinking the Chief officers are. More and more are realizing the potential though.

 

[Burnsy2023]

GMP seem to be really mixed. On the hand, officially all specials are aligned to the INPT teams, and should parade on and work with them. Unofficially, lots of us work response, take on jobs etc. I'm not interview trained personally, but the training is available (albeit its the regular weekday course).

Personally I mix double crewing with response officers to working single crewed. Single crewed in theory I'm INPT, so usually start off doing INPT taskings, but response are that short, most comms ops just send us to jobs the same as the regs. I'll often be the only patrol available for grade 1 jobs (which is where GMP's driving policy is really frustrating).

I know your frustrations about the driving policy. I asked the CC to review it last year which he agreed to, it's still under review as is L2 PO training. I'm not sure how it'll end up. I think they probably will offer the training at some point but it's how long they drag their heels.

I know many forces align Specials to NPT but I'm aligned to response and it's one of the primary reasons I'm as useful as I am. I find the more you invest in Specials, the more you get out.

 

[Burnsy2023]

I'm currently tasked with the most dreaded task of all police work. Any guesses what it is ?

Constant obs on someone who has just **** themself?

Given budget and time restraints, it is a better use of both to train regulars than specials who, in theory, will use it far more often.

If all regulars are trained then training specials should be considered.

I think that a less crude financial decision should be made. I agree that some training is so expensive it's hard to justify most Specials getting, but there are always exceptions. As for L2, you need to do a cost analysis on how much it costs to abstract your regular officers and how much return an individual special may give if L2 is available to them. If you have a Special who will police every football game running (because they're motivated and many of the pre-planned ops requiring a PSU fall out of normal 9-5 work hours), then it may actually be more cost efficient to give some specials training to save OT and abstractions to backfill.

 

[Burnsy2023]

My other half is one of the corporate communications officers for Hampshire Constabulary (kind of imagine a press officer, the spokeperson that you often hear in media reports when they refer to "a police spokesperson said") , and some of the stresses and sheer weight of work that she has to deal with is unbelievable.

Small world. What area (Western/Eastern/Northern)? She may have given me my Twitter training...

 

[Burnsy2023]

Eastern

Cool, not the person I was thinking of, but I've certainly had an email or two from your OH

Gone off the police big time as one totally lied when he made a statement against me!! Now i realise why they are called various nasty names!!

This isn't the thread for that thanks.

 

[Burnsy2023]

A full nightshift on scene preservation. Not long back and goodnight.

That's bad, but constant obs is worse. You can turn off to some degree on a scene guard, you can't on a high risk detainee who is in hospital intent on harming themselves.

My colleague and I took over from two other officers who were at hospital with a DP for a domestic at around 2300. He was heavily in drink, "fighty" and constantly wanting to get off the bed. He was handcuffed and a right PITA.

He had diarrhea (communicable stomach bug) and then proceeded to deffocate himself. Great. Myself and my colleague then started taking turns to wait in the now horrifically smelling room and wait outside whilst the nurses organised themselves to sort him out.

Two nurses came into the room and started trying to get him up so they could strip him and clean him. He then stated he needed to urinate urgently, so they put him down again and got a kommode. As they had lifted him up **** started running down his leg and onto the floor so one nurse started cleaning that up. The other nurse wheeled in a kommode and I offered to help lift him onto it as the room was quite small. The removed his trousers and we started to manouver him onto it. As we lifted him onto the kommode he **** himself again, however it missed the centre of the commode and hit the edge spraying the whole room in liquid, brown, bacteria infested **** like a horriffic garden sprinkler. I almost was sick there and then. The nurses warned me not to put my hands anywhere my mouth and carried on like the steely troopers they are.

I couldn't scrub hard enough in the shower when I got home at 8am but I never felt clean enough. So yeah, I'd take a night scene guard over that any day.

 

[Burnsy2023]

I believe a case by case basis would be fair, I think with my hours, my experience and the areas I work, I could justify the investment, but I appreciate that for many specials it would be a waste. Not many would be able/willing to get the time off work anyway.

It's frustrating when I know there are regular officers who are trained but very rarely use it, INPT officers for example.

I completely agree. Most specials simply don't give the return to justify a response course, but some do. There are always exceptions to the rule which is why it needs to be flexible enough for all cases.

 

[Burnsy2023]

I'm jealous there Burnsey. It's worse than one I had a while ago where the bloke had made tiny little sand castles out of his own faeces and left them on the window ledge, and then cleaned his hands on the walls...

I also had a heroin addict in hospital, in hancuffs, trying to take a blood sample from his groin because a doctor couldn't seem to get a line in anywhere.

I don't like watching needles at the best of times, let alone in groins.