Considering the career of a police officer in the UK?

Question

List...

The advantages and disadvantages of being a police officer

The salary, job conditions and hours

All of the promotions available, how long it takes to become them, the hours, job conditions and salaries for them.

I am currently studying GCSE Law and Geography, as well as all of the other core subjects. Will this be good enough to strt me on the role of a police officer if I wanted to become one? If so, how? Tell me how I can become one from the road I am currently on.

The exams, training I will have to go through to become each promotion including the basic (standard police officer). And try to list the difficuly on a scale of 1 - 10. 1 - Easy 10 - Really difficult

Answer 1

So long as you have good GCSEs in English etc. you're set, qualification wise. Its about people skills, dealing with problems, keeping a cool head under pressure, thinking on your feet, having life experience to draw on, being mature, being reliable etc. etc.

Scale of 1 to 10? About 12. I was successfully enrolled as a Police Community Support Officer, and our tutor told us that for each seat we sat in, we had to beat 20 people each to get there (and that was just from shortlisting, never mind drafting and long listing). Due to injury I left the force. When the injury was resolved I re-applied as a Police Officer, passing the paper sift and inital interview. However, my injury came to light again and I had to bow out of the interviews. I am now a CCTV control room operator which is probably as close as I'll get due to this d**n knee problem. Good luck with it, the money is good but its hard to get into. be aware though, it's not glamorous and it's never easy. It's also not as rewarding as you might think as your hands are tied when dealing with alot of situations.

Good luck, by all means email me.

Answer 2

Big disadvantage is that it affects you 24 hours a day. If you live where you work then you need to look over your shoulder for people you've arrested. There are loads of officers assaulted whilst on nights out etc. You are also constantly judged on your actions.

Salary is good depending on your qualifications. Roughly starting on £22k rising to £35k once you have 10 years experience (with no promotion). Then you go up the ranks Sergeant £36k - £42k, Inspector £42k to £45k and so on.

Promotion is hard to gain. You can officially get promoted after 2 years but most take at least 5 years to climb the first rung. Then another 3 years to get onto the second.

Easiest thing is keep your nose clean. Get your qualifications and then apply. You could even do some specialing which will give you some clue as to whether the jobs for you. Get in and use the first couple of years to figure the job out and where you want to go.

Some forces are easier to get into than others. The Met need lots of recruits and so it's generally easier to get in. I was told there was 100 applicants for every position when I applied. It was a miracle I even got close!!

There's loads of rubbish to go with it. The government s***w us over pay, the public don't respect us and there are those that actually want to kill us just for wearing the uniform but you'll soon realise if it's the job for you. Give it a go.