First applied for the Met police in 2002. Took just over a year to get my fitness test. I passed that then passed the medical. Unfortunately I failed the interview as I was so nervous sat in front of 4 uniformed police.
I say I would have been less nervous and more prepared had I done the job before in the role of a special. Actually mid April this year I felt ready to give it another shot after the disappointment 8 years previous. However this time I have applied to be a special first. But since mid April the website keeps telling me my application is at the paper sift stage. I don't expect I will hear anything in the near future!
First applied for the Met police in 2002. Took just over a year to get my fitness test. I passed that then passed the medical. Unfortunately I failed the interview as I was so nervous sat in front of 4 uniformed police.
I say I would have been less nervous and more prepared had I done the job before in the role of a special. Actually mid April this year I felt ready to give it another shot after the disappointment 8 years previous. However this time I have applied to be a special first. But since mid April the website keeps telling me my application is at the paper sift stage. I don't expect I will hear anything in the near future!
I'm a member of a police forum and it is the norm to have to wait so long. Normally one is waiting for at least 6 months! And to be honest if they can't be bothered then I'm not sure it's the right career move for me anyway.
I'm a member of a police forum and it is the norm to have to wait so long. Normally one is waiting for at least 6 months! And to be honest if they can't be bothered then I'm not sure it's the right career move for me anyway.
Errors can occur with websites. I'd be calling them to make sure if I were you, be a shame to miss out on what you want to do just because of a possible fault that you don't look in to.
(I'm just bumping this because I'm excited, it's a completely useless post. )
I drove a marked police car today! An old Met Police BMW, around the skidpan at Hendon's police training college, with a police driving instructor next to me.
It was absolutely brilliant, he taught us more about skidding/hard braking etc etc and let us do all that, and then he took us for a go with him driving and it was amazing, he was the best driver I have ever seen, I've never seen anyone with so much control over a vehicle before!
And we might be able to go back and have a 'tour' around Hendon and maybe drive another car or do a bit of pursuit stuff depending on what's/who's available. And the guy who organised it all for us said that he will give me a reference if/when I ever apply for either the Specials or the Police and apparently might be able to go through some mock interviews with me. He said eyesight won't necessarily be a problem (although hmm), but still.
It's not even just the car stuff (obviously real life isn't quite like that... ), it's just being at Hendon has absolutely made my day, seeing all the cars and the vans and the police officers and the buildings. And he mentioned the 2 years of being a Special to my aunt too, so it does sound like it's a possibility for the Met (when they do finally start recruiting again, although it sounds more like a lot of them will be losing their jobs. )
But yes. I want to be a police officer more than anything.
Edit: This post really does sound like I am basing my consideration of the police on a skidpan and fast driving. It's not just that, I swear. >.<
Do a spot of research to make sure it's right for you, but if it is then keep an eye on recruitment. It may be a couple of years or even longer looking at the press, but it's worth it. It's a great career with a mix of being rewarding, fun, exciting, upsetting, boring, hard work and taxing. But it's worth it if you're the right person
I'm doing/have done lots of research and reading so I know I like what I read (even the paperwork, shifts, etc, etc) - the reality may well be very different, but I won't know unless I find out I guess. It wouldn't be for a few years at least anyway, I've got at least one more year left of uni, I want a lot more life experience, and I need a lot more confidence and a lot less social anxiety!
In the meantime, I'm planning to see if any of the forces around here have any volunteer positions open still - I know my local force aren't recruiting for Specials at the moment, but I'm kind of figuring if they're having to cut down on a lot of people they might be more willing to take someone on for free.
I'm a member of a police forum and it is the norm to have to wait so long. Normally one is waiting for at least 6 months! And to be honest if they can't be bothered then I'm not sure it's the right career move for me anyway.
I'd still contact them if I was you, anything could have happened - they may not have received the application, the website is playing up or you may have missed a telephone call. The sooner you do it the better. Leaving things to fade into the background speaks volumes about people, the longer you leave it the worse it'll look when you do eventually try to follow it up!
They say 60,000 jobs will potentially be lost in the police force now, don't they?
I think I'm going to give up my hopes of ever actually working with the police. Who knows though, maybe something will change in the future.
Saying that, I did get an e-mail from the volunteer manager at my local police force last week, asking if I'm still interested in volunteering. I haven't had a reply back since then (not sure how long to leave it before contacting them again?), but hopefully it means something will come up eventually. He said if I was still interested he'd give my local station a call to see if there are any roles available, so I'm not keeping my hopes up because it's a small station, but who knows. One day. If I can't do it paid I might as well do it for free hey.
Such a rubbish situation. It's also going to mean there are much fewer younger police officers too if they're not going to recruitment for a few years at least (I'm assuming until at least 2015 if they're saying jobs will be reduced until then?). Obviously there are still officers who will be young then, but I dunno. If that makes sense?
They say 60,000 jobs will potentially be lost in the police force now, don't they?
That's a comment made by an ex Chief Constable after he's done a few equations of his own. Even he has stated himself it could be less, however they aren't official figures.
I suspect the number of cops will fall, in fact I'd say it certainly will. Currently they're looking at natural wastage, but we'll see what the future brings. This means that every person who retires, leaves or is fired will not be replaced.
I'm sure for some of the quieter areas of the country this will be an inconvenience, but I know there are many places around the country where less cops will be dangerous for members of the public and police officers alike.
I can think of times where we've not had enough cops and have had to draft them in on blue and twos from neighbouring divisions and it's not as uncommon as you'd think. It certainly doesn't make the press. Now if we were to have less cops available these situations are going to be problematic. When the poo hits the fan and more cops are required for an incident, where do they come from??
They're stating that front line services won't be hit but in my own personal view they will. If you have less resources doing the job that is being done now I'd say that front line forces will be affected. The people this affects will be YOU. When you dial 999 and need the police there immediately I hope the numbers that have been cut aren't going to mean nobody's available - it does happen from time to time and it will only happen more if there are less cops.
It seems ridiculous that NHS and education have been ringfenced but they've decided not to do the same to the police and are also looking at reducing the number of people going to prison for offences. Without wanting to sound dramatic, this could have really serious consequences for all of us.
I think I'm going to give up my hopes of ever actually working with the police. Who knows though, maybe something will change in the future.
I'm sure one day it will. Unfortunately at present there's certainly going to be job losses for civilian staff in the police service, possibly including PCSOs. The flip side is a massive recruitment drive in specials, so perhaps that could be for you.
Saying that, I did get an e-mail from the volunteer manager at my local police force last week, asking if I'm still interested in volunteering. I haven't had a reply back since then (not sure how long to leave it before contacting them again?), but hopefully it means something will come up eventually. He said if I was still interested he'd give my local station a call to see if there are any roles available, so I'm not keeping my hopes up because it's a small station, but who knows. One day. If I can't do it paid I might as well do it for free hey.
Volunteers are a big future project for the police forces. They're going to become even more valuable than they are now, but sadly even with all their enthusiasm and the value of their freely provided work their experience and knowledge doesn't match the full time equivalents who may be removed or reduced.
Such a rubbish situation. It's also going to mean there are much fewer younger police officers too if they're not going to recruitment for a few years at least (I'm assuming until at least 2015 if they're saying jobs will be reduced until then?). Obviously there are still officers who will be young then, but I dunno. If that makes sense?
People start at 18 1/2 years, so even if there's no recruitment for five years the youngest would be around 23 years.
Keep your eye on the recruitment sites over the next few years. I doubt you'll see much change in the next 3 or 4 years, but it's always worth keeping an eye out.
That's a comment made by an ex Chief Constable after he's done a few equations of his own. Even he has stated himself it could be less, however they aren't official figures.
I suspect the number of cops will fall, in fact I'd say it certainly will. Currently they're looking at natural wastage, but we'll see what the future brings. This means that every person who retires, leaves or is fired will not be replaced.
I'm sure for some of the quieter areas of the country this will be an inconvenience, but I know there are many places around the country where less cops will be dangerous for members of the public and police officers alike.
I can think of times where we've not had enough cops and have had to draft them in on blue and twos from neighbouring divisions and it's not as uncommon as you'd think. It certainly doesn't make the press. Now if we were to have less cops available these situations are going to be problematic. When the poo hits the fan and more cops are required for an incident, where do they come from??
They're stating that front line services won't be hit but in my own personal view they will. If you have less resources doing the job that is being done now I'd say that front line forces will be affected. The people this affects will be YOU. When you dial 999 and need the police there immediately I hope the numbers that have been cut aren't going to mean nobody's available - it does happen from time to time and it will only happen more if there are less cops.
It seems ridiculous that NHS and education have been ringfenced but they've decided not to do the same to the police and are also looking at reducing the number of people going to prison for offences. Without wanting to sound dramatic, this could have really serious consequences for all of us.
That is the issue I have as a member of the public. There hav already been complaints for a long time where people are saying their calls aren't responded to quick enough. Whether or not that's entirely justified I don't know, I'm not sure what the situation is with response times to non-emergency calls, but people already aren't happy, and realistically it sounds like that will get worse.
Now I've never had a problem with response times personally. I've never called any of the emergency services before, but I've had the police called for me quite a few times this year and they've always been there very quickly, within about 5-10 minutes usually. Now I obviously hope I won't ever have to be in that situation again anyway, but it is quite worrying if the service is reduced because ultimately it is the officers on the frontline who will end up getting abuse for not being fast enough and it worries me as someone who has been dealt with by the police before that I would be wasting their time even more when there will be fewer officers to deal with real problems (obviously I hope not to be in that situaton again anyway, but it's not exactly something I had hoped to happen then either).
Now if as they are suggesting, it will also mean less paperwork for police officers that is one benefit. But in the end, job losses will mean fewer officers out on the streets, fewer officers available immediately, and I can't see it going down well with members of the public personally.
I'm sure one day it will. Unfortunately at present there's certainly going to be job losses for civilian staff in the police service, possibly including PCSOs. The flip side is a massive recruitment drive in specials, so perhaps that could be for you.
Volunteers are a big future project for the police forces. They're going to become even more valuable than they are now, but sadly even with all their enthusiasm and the value of their freely provided work their experience and knowledge doesn't match the full time equivalents who may be removed or reduced.
I hope so. My local force isn't even recruiting for Specials at the moment, but they have said they will review that situation at the end of 2010. As you say though, it won't compare to full-time equivalents.
I'm only 21 at the moment luckily, so on the bright side for me personally I still have time to get some more life experience and hopefully the recruitment issues will change sooner rather than later. We shall see though. Better late than never.
That is the issue I have as a member of the public. There hav already been complaints for a long time where people are saying their calls aren't responded to quick enough. Whether or not that's entirely justified I don't know, I'm not sure what the situation is with response times to non-emergency calls, but people already aren't happy, and realistically it sounds like that will get worse.
You'll always get people complaining about times because sometimes resources are stretched or, as is more common, high priority jobs have to be resourced over lower priority jobs making those with the lower priority jobs not realise that they took longer to get to for a reason. A broken window taking a few hours to get to because there's a burglary in progress, a stabbing, a large public order incident and a few other jobs going on is common sense but not everyone understands that sadly.
Now I've never had a problem with response times personally. I've never called any of the emergency services before, but I've had the police called for me quite a few times this year and they've always been there very quickly, within about 5-10 minutes usually. Now I obviously hope I won't ever have to be in that situation again anyway, but it is quite worrying if the service is reduced because ultimately it is the officers on the frontline who will end up getting abuse for not being fast enough and it worries me as someone who has been dealt with by the police before that I would be wasting their time even more when there will be fewer officers to deal with real problems (obviously I hope not to be in that situaton again anyway, but it's not exactly something I had hoped to happen then either).
The abuse is part and parcel of the job. I am more concerned about what happens when you have all your resources at high priority jobs and another couple of high priority jobs come in but there's nobody left to go to them? You previously had X amount of staff, but now you've lost a number of them due to cut backs. With a busy night shift bringing in 999 where people are getting hurt and need help now, what do you do? You can't send staff to jobs when the staff don't exist, even though those staff are working flat out to help the public. If there's no enough bobbies due to cut backs then you have a real problem and people will suffer because of it sadly.
Now if as they are suggesting, it will also mean less paperwork for police officers that is one benefit.
In my view, even if 80% of the paperwork and related work was cut you'd still not have enough staff if the number of officers were cut by 60,000 as suggested. And it's never going to be a case of 80% of the admin and paperwork going, it's just not possible. Paperwork can always be put on hold when officers are required urgently, however you can't quickly recruit more officers when you've got rid of a load and need them back to sort out a busy night shift with people being hurt.
But in the end, job losses will mean fewer officers out on the streets, fewer officers available immediately, and I can't see it going down well with members of the public personally.
This is exactly it. In my view the police service will would be forced in to a position of reactive policing rather than proactive and reactive policing. With resources responding to crimes in progress and after they've occurred and not having time to be out there actually preventing crime in the first place. So in reality you'll have more victims of crime.
Imagine after these large scale cut backs that you're sleeping on a Saturday night. The local pub's kicked off because the favourite team just got beaten. Plenty of injuries and damage and it's ongoing. Resources are sent in mass to the pub to stop the disturbance and try to gather evidence of offences. During this time, some offenders try to fight back with cops, requiring further officers there. You're still sleeping, unaware of this, however you are then awoken by someone entering your house and you can hear whispering as two offenders sneak up your stairs towards your bedroom. You dial 999, the job's created on the system, the radio operator passes it out as an immediate response job however there isn't anyone available for it. The job's repeated over the air several times but still nobody's available, despite the willing being there the numbers aren't.
Where does that leave you? It may sound extreme, but I've known jobs struggle to be resourced on busy nights before although currently they tend to manage. However if you take numbers down to such levels as suggested recently you will only increase the strain on the service and the 999 call for the home owner above really could go without anyone turning up until it's too late... We have the numbers we have now because we need them.
I hope so. My local force isn't even recruiting for Specials at the moment, but they have said they will review that situation at the end of 2010. As you say though, it won't compare to full-time equivalents.
I'm only 21 at the moment luckily, so on the bright side for me personally I still have time to get some more life experience and hopefully the recruitment issues will change sooner rather than later. We shall see though. Better late than never.
I don't think recruitment will open up for a good few years. However my main concern is that I don't want my family to have to live in a situation where we don't have enough cops and offenders are no longer off to prison.
Cut backs are all well and good but if we can decide that health care and education are too important to make huge cuts in then how does someone make the decision that the law can be cut back on? The protection of the public and removal of those who are out to hurt us is ridiculous.
When I went to a recruitment seminar a few months a go for the specials, I found that most people were only applying to be a special to get into the regular force along the line.
I know WMP have suspended their specials recruitment. Everyone who has already applied is OK, but they're not accepting anymore applications.
Warwickshire Police are still recruiting for specials.
It is a lot of work to expect people to put in. You have 6 months training not to mention all the other stages you need to complete. I am surprised at how many people actually want to be specials. I want to do it because it is something I think I would enjoy it. I am not doing it to get into the regular police, although that would be nice.
Comments
I say I would have been less nervous and more prepared had I done the job before in the role of a special. Actually mid April this year I felt ready to give it another shot after the disappointment 8 years previous. However this time I have applied to be a special first. But since mid April the website keeps telling me my application is at the paper sift stage. I don't expect I will hear anything in the near future!
Have you tried telephoning them!?
I'm a member of a police forum and it is the norm to have to wait so long. Normally one is waiting for at least 6 months! And to be honest if they can't be bothered then I'm not sure it's the right career move for me anyway.
Errors can occur with websites. I'd be calling them to make sure if I were you, be a shame to miss out on what you want to do just because of a possible fault that you don't look in to.
I drove a marked police car today! An old Met Police BMW, around the skidpan at Hendon's police training college, with a police driving instructor next to me.
It was absolutely brilliant, he taught us more about skidding/hard braking etc etc and let us do all that, and then he took us for a go with him driving and it was amazing, he was the best driver I have ever seen, I've never seen anyone with so much control over a vehicle before!
And we might be able to go back and have a 'tour' around Hendon and maybe drive another car or do a bit of pursuit stuff depending on what's/who's available.
It's not even just the car stuff (obviously real life isn't quite like that...
But yes. I want to be a police officer more than anything.
Edit: This post really does sound like I am basing my consideration of the police on a skidpan and fast driving. It's not just that, I swear. >.<
Do a spot of research to make sure it's right for you, but if it is then keep an eye on recruitment. It may be a couple of years or even longer looking at the press, but it's worth it. It's a great career with a mix of being rewarding, fun, exciting, upsetting, boring, hard work and taxing. But it's worth it if you're the right person
In the meantime, I'm planning to see if any of the forces around here have any volunteer positions open still - I know my local force aren't recruiting for Specials at the moment, but I'm kind of figuring if they're having to cut down on a lot of people they might be more willing to take someone on for free.
I'd still contact them if I was you, anything could have happened - they may not have received the application, the website is playing up or you may have missed a telephone call. The sooner you do it the better. Leaving things to fade into the background speaks volumes about people, the longer you leave it the worse it'll look when you do eventually try to follow it up!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10611876
Seems like the instructors at Tulliallan are going to be back on the beat soon.:eek:Bet they're well pleased!.
I think I'm going to give up my hopes of ever actually working with the police. Who knows though, maybe something will change in the future.
Saying that, I did get an e-mail from the volunteer manager at my local police force last week, asking if I'm still interested in volunteering. I haven't had a reply back since then (not sure how long to leave it before contacting them again?), but hopefully it means something will come up eventually. He said if I was still interested he'd give my local station a call to see if there are any roles available, so I'm not keeping my hopes up because it's a small station, but who knows. One day. If I can't do it paid I might as well do it for free hey.
Such a rubbish situation. It's also going to mean there are much fewer younger police officers too if they're not going to recruitment for a few years at least (I'm assuming until at least 2015 if they're saying jobs will be reduced until then?). Obviously there are still officers who will be young then, but I dunno. If that makes sense?
I suspect the number of cops will fall, in fact I'd say it certainly will. Currently they're looking at natural wastage, but we'll see what the future brings. This means that every person who retires, leaves or is fired will not be replaced.
I'm sure for some of the quieter areas of the country this will be an inconvenience, but I know there are many places around the country where less cops will be dangerous for members of the public and police officers alike.
I can think of times where we've not had enough cops and have had to draft them in on blue and twos from neighbouring divisions and it's not as uncommon as you'd think. It certainly doesn't make the press. Now if we were to have less cops available these situations are going to be problematic. When the poo hits the fan and more cops are required for an incident, where do they come from??
They're stating that front line services won't be hit but in my own personal view they will. If you have less resources doing the job that is being done now I'd say that front line forces will be affected. The people this affects will be YOU. When you dial 999 and need the police there immediately I hope the numbers that have been cut aren't going to mean nobody's available - it does happen from time to time and it will only happen more if there are less cops.
It seems ridiculous that NHS and education have been ringfenced but they've decided not to do the same to the police and are also looking at reducing the number of people going to prison for offences. Without wanting to sound dramatic, this could have really serious consequences for all of us.
I'm sure one day it will. Unfortunately at present there's certainly going to be job losses for civilian staff in the police service, possibly including PCSOs. The flip side is a massive recruitment drive in specials, so perhaps that could be for you.
Volunteers are a big future project for the police forces. They're going to become even more valuable than they are now, but sadly even with all their enthusiasm and the value of their freely provided work their experience and knowledge doesn't match the full time equivalents who may be removed or reduced.
People start at 18 1/2 years, so even if there's no recruitment for five years the youngest would be around 23 years.
Keep your eye on the recruitment sites over the next few years. I doubt you'll see much change in the next 3 or 4 years, but it's always worth keeping an eye out.
That is the issue I have as a member of the public. There hav already been complaints for a long time where people are saying their calls aren't responded to quick enough. Whether or not that's entirely justified I don't know, I'm not sure what the situation is with response times to non-emergency calls, but people already aren't happy, and realistically it sounds like that will get worse.
Now I've never had a problem with response times personally. I've never called any of the emergency services before, but I've had the police called for me quite a few times this year and they've always been there very quickly, within about 5-10 minutes usually. Now I obviously hope I won't ever have to be in that situation again anyway, but it is quite worrying if the service is reduced because ultimately it is the officers on the frontline who will end up getting abuse for not being fast enough and it worries me as someone who has been dealt with by the police before that I would be wasting their time even more when there will be fewer officers to deal with real problems (obviously I hope not to be in that situaton again anyway, but it's not exactly something I had hoped to happen then either).
Now if as they are suggesting, it will also mean less paperwork for police officers that is one benefit. But in the end, job losses will mean fewer officers out on the streets, fewer officers available immediately, and I can't see it going down well with members of the public personally.
I hope so. My local force isn't even recruiting for Specials at the moment, but they have said they will review that situation at the end of 2010. As you say though, it won't compare to full-time equivalents.
I'm only 21 at the moment luckily, so on the bright side for me personally I still have time to get some more life experience and hopefully the recruitment issues will change sooner rather than later. We shall see though. Better late than never.
The abuse is part and parcel of the job. I am more concerned about what happens when you have all your resources at high priority jobs and another couple of high priority jobs come in but there's nobody left to go to them? You previously had X amount of staff, but now you've lost a number of them due to cut backs. With a busy night shift bringing in 999 where people are getting hurt and need help now, what do you do? You can't send staff to jobs when the staff don't exist, even though those staff are working flat out to help the public. If there's no enough bobbies due to cut backs then you have a real problem and people will suffer because of it sadly.
In my view, even if 80% of the paperwork and related work was cut you'd still not have enough staff if the number of officers were cut by 60,000 as suggested. And it's never going to be a case of 80% of the admin and paperwork going, it's just not possible. Paperwork can always be put on hold when officers are required urgently, however you can't quickly recruit more officers when you've got rid of a load and need them back to sort out a busy night shift with people being hurt.
This is exactly it. In my view the police service will would be forced in to a position of reactive policing rather than proactive and reactive policing. With resources responding to crimes in progress and after they've occurred and not having time to be out there actually preventing crime in the first place. So in reality you'll have more victims of crime.
Imagine after these large scale cut backs that you're sleeping on a Saturday night. The local pub's kicked off because the favourite team just got beaten. Plenty of injuries and damage and it's ongoing. Resources are sent in mass to the pub to stop the disturbance and try to gather evidence of offences. During this time, some offenders try to fight back with cops, requiring further officers there. You're still sleeping, unaware of this, however you are then awoken by someone entering your house and you can hear whispering as two offenders sneak up your stairs towards your bedroom. You dial 999, the job's created on the system, the radio operator passes it out as an immediate response job however there isn't anyone available for it. The job's repeated over the air several times but still nobody's available, despite the willing being there the numbers aren't.
Where does that leave you? It may sound extreme, but I've known jobs struggle to be resourced on busy nights before although currently they tend to manage. However if you take numbers down to such levels as suggested recently you will only increase the strain on the service and the 999 call for the home owner above really could go without anyone turning up until it's too late... We have the numbers we have now because we need them.
I don't think recruitment will open up for a good few years. However my main concern is that I don't want my family to have to live in a situation where we don't have enough cops and offenders are no longer off to prison.
Cut backs are all well and good but if we can decide that health care and education are too important to make huge cuts in then how does someone make the decision that the law can be cut back on? The protection of the public and removal of those who are out to hurt us is ridiculous.
Anyway, rant over
I know WMP have suspended their specials recruitment. Everyone who has already applied is OK, but they're not accepting anymore applications.
Warwickshire Police are still recruiting for specials.
It is a lot of work to expect people to put in. You have 6 months training not to mention all the other stages you need to complete. I am surprised at how many people actually want to be specials. I want to do it because it is something I think I would enjoy it. I am not doing it to get into the regular police, although that would be nice.