Industry Guides
Becoming A Police Officer
Why become a police officer?
Quite simply, it's a great career but not for the faint-hearted. You're there to serve the community maintain law and order, ensure public safety and security of property. Your duties can include preventing and investigating crimes, attending incidents and dealing with the public plus a great deal behind the scenes. Of course, the rewards here are plain to see. However, you also need to ask yourself whether you can cope with the other side of the job for example, telling a mother that her only child has been injured or even killed in an accident. Police officers are, to the rest of society, seen as providing an essential service, but are rarely the bearers of good news.
Various options are available to you: you can join as a full-time police constable or you can join as a volunteer with the Special Constables - a part-time section of the force who undergo less rigorous training and have less responsibility than the rest of the force. More recently, many forces have introduced Police Community Support Officers often abbreviated to PCSOs or CSOs. As a CSO, you don't have the full powers of a police constable, but, after a period of training, you are given a great deal of responsibility for patrolling the streets and liaising with the public.
What qualifications do I need to become a police officer?
Contrary to popular belief there are no height restrictions for becoming a police officer. Any UK citizen, Commonwealth citizen with an unrestricted right of residence in the UK , or Republic of Ireland citizen, between the ages of 18 and 50 can join, and police recruitment policies stress that maturity and life experience is an advantage.
You must be in good health, reasonably fit, and neither underweight nor overweight for your height. A police officer must be of good character, but a criminal record will not necessarily disqualify you from joining the police, depending on the nature of the offence. There are no specific requirements for academic qualifications, although applicants will be tested on their command of English, ability to think logically, and handling of numbers.
You will also need good judgment, observational skills and an ability to record details. In addition, officers are expected to have good communication skills as they will have to relate to people from all walks of life.
The Special route
The police employer needs to be satisfied you are an individual who can work with the public with a courteous and professional manner and are able to resolve conflict and exert authority. To this end, if you’re serious about becoming a police officer it is recommended that you first become a Special Constable. 'Specials' as they are known, are volunteer officers who work in an unpaid capacity for 8-16 hours per month supporting sworn officers as they go about their job. Find out more about becoming a 'Special'.
What are the training procedures?
Every new recruit goes through exactly the same basic training programme, which lasts 15 weeks at a National Police Training Centre and is followed by further training on the job. Recruits are then on probation for two years before they become fully-fledged police officers.
Training is in four stages. Recruits spend two weeks at their local force training centre, familiarising themselves with police procedures and with the law. You will receive your uniform and make an official declaration as a police constable before a local magistrate. There then follows a 15-week intensive residential course with continual assessment and exams. Strenuous physical activity, self-defence training, and teaching on the law, how to understand the criminal mind, and how to treat people fairly, are all part of the course.
After this, trainees return to their home force and are allocated an experienced tutor constable who guides them through the routines of police work. You are then considered suitable for independent patrol, and pass on to more advanced training. After two years probation you will be required to attend further training locally before being appointed to the rank of constable.
How do I apply?
Firstly, you will need to decide which force (or forces) you are going to apply to. There are over fifty police forces and more than 150,000 police officers in the United Kingdom - about one for every 400 people. Some of the smaller forces take on only a handful of recruits each year, whilst the largest forces are looking for hundreds of recruits each month.
To get started visit the Police Could You?
