Shaolin

As the title says, if you know what you are on about, tell me some good points and bad points about being a copper.

Mice_Elf

This might be best asked on 5ive-o, Shaolin as that is a chat site run by police officers.

There *are* police on here still but the majority of them don't / won't post due to the instant bashing that they receive.

Shaolin

Thanks Mice....will do.

what would scooby do

Under-paid
Under-appreciated
Average age of death was around 46 to 48 IIRC

ProperCharlie

Just think Shaolin; you might never be nicked for speeding again...

Little Miss WRX

Whatever you decide to do, good luck with it.

I would much rather be on the Ambulance side of things if I was to join the Emergency forces. The Fire service would be ultimate, but I doubt I would want to do much work with a load of burly firemen around me.....

mega_stream

Most of my family are in the job, they seem to do alright out of it, certainly sounds more exciting that working in dull boring IT

I would have joined but I'm too much of a chicken

Shaolin

I think i might really like it, its just the first part of training im a bit worried about. Thanks peeps

Shaolin

Little miss, i was going to join the fire service, done part of the training but have now thought there is just so much more to the Police to keep me more interested.

what would scooby do

Give it a whirl, training could be a toughy - there was a lady who was either in training or spending time with the police with a view to joining (in Milton Keynes) - anyways she was in a Panda Car with a coppiceman, when a bunch of crims held them up at gun-point and stole their coppice car (and abandoned it 400 yards later)

What an intro huh - I never found out if she joined up...

T.C

The job has changed significantly since I started in 1975, and to be fair it has in my opinion changed for the worse.

I was talking to a former colleague who is still on Traffic (my old department) and he was saying that now everything is arrest orientated, even to the point that traffic crews are going into the Local Intelligence Office picking up a handfull of warrants and going out knocking on doors and executing the warrants.

Even guys I know with as little as 10 years service are already counting down to retirement because of the changes they have seen in a relatively short period of time, and this thing called discretion seems to have gone completely out of the window.

The only good point at the moment is a degree of job security, and a decent pension when you retire. I currently get in the region of £2K although that does include industrial injury benefit as well due to the fact that I retired on a medical.

Give it a go, the training is not that bad, (I certainly enjoyed my basic training although it was 30 years ago and it is a lot softer now) and once you are through your two years probation you can think about specialising or promotion. Once you get to 5 years service you start earning decent money as well.

Tiggs

I was trying to join Thames Valley about 10 years ago....passed everything then fail the dictation test as i couldnt write at like a seceratry!

at the time i was pissed off as the height thing had gone so they where taking 4'9 girls but wouldnt have me as i couldnt write fast enough!

looking back, and knowing some coppers, it was the best thing that ever happened!

T

Shaolin

T.C.

I think im worried about the basic training more than anything, just how good do you have 2 be???, im not stupid, but im not a rocket scientist either!!.....im pretty confident about the physical things etc.....just the brain bit that bothers me

SiPie

Don't worry mate.....

Just remove the whole thing before the start of every shift and you'll do just fine

Shaolin

Sipie

I suppose i was asking for a comment like that

Johnny50

I'd say go for it mate !

A friend of mine joined the police a few years ago..took a bit of slagging from all is mates at the time, but 4 years down the line, he's kept his head down, and is going places.

Definately a good career move IMO.

T.C

Shaolin, believe me you do not need to worry about the basic training. What they look for is common sense, the ability to deal with situations under pressure, a basic knowledge of law (which you will be taught)a reasonable level of fitness and good communication skills.

Once you are through the basic 13 weeks, the rest is on the job training with an experienced hand to show you the way, although the first two years probation is a mixture of on the street training, courses and studying.

When I joined in 1975 it was 16 weeks basic at Eynsham Hall and the discipline was somewhat stricter than it is now, (Very Military style) whereas these days they are mixed colleges and a somewhat softer regime. The time passes very quickly.

The exams are the biggest worry as you sit an exam every week and you have to attain a minimum pass level to avoid being back squadded or kicked out, but hey! If I can pass then anyone with a reasonable number of brain cells can.

T.C

Should have added, that if you get in, stick it out and do your full 30, the pension is worth having. I did 20+ as I had to retire on medical grounds and I get a very good monthly pension (Over £1K) and my lump sum was about £45K and that was 10 years ago. Currently PC's are retiring at 30 years with between £80 - £100K and monthly pensions close on £2K. If you climb the ranks the pensions increase substantialy and if you attain Superintendent rank or above you get NOT LESS then 45 days annual leave per year year.

fatherpierre

Join the Met. Their starting salary is £27k

I'm just waiting for my start date at Hendon.

Put all the self doubts you have to one side and just give it a go. The actual recruitment process isn't as hard as you may think.

Just do a bit of research on actual police policies and don't listen to all the crap you hear!

Good luck if you do take the plunge

[Edited by fatherpierre - 6/13/2003 12:32:06 PM]

IanW

If it is something that you really do want to do then go for it! the fitness test is a joke at the moment

Well here is my experience of yesterday where I had my 'Day One' Selection Event with the Met Police.

Well it all started when I got up this morning at 6.30am (not normal for me unless I have not been to bed yet) but I wanted to make sure that I was fully prepared and had everything sorted. Things were all going well until at about 8.30 I got out of the bath and was getting my shirt on when I heard a chainsaw outside. I look out of the window and I see that the councils tree contractors are outside cutting down a tree, not a problem normally, but they have parked across the driveway! After a quick ‘discussion’ with them I managed to persuade them to move the lorry and shredder/chipper thing away from the driveway.

Now that was sorted out I was rushing around the house getting things sorted, off into the scoob I go to head up to the station. Now I was due at Hendon at 12:00 and it is a 1 hour journey on the train, so I get to the train station for 09:30 thinking, get up there early and I can at least do a bit of revision done. I buy my ticket, get on the 09:36 train which should get me to Hendon for 10:35 or there abouts. So I am sitting on the train, reading over all my motes I had made, and then we stop and the driver makes an announcement that there is a train that has failed up in front of us and was being cleared, so we are going to be a few minutes late. Not a major problem as I had left so much time to spare so I was not worried, I just carried on reading my notes, watching the world go by etc… then I glance down at my phone (I still have not got around to going to buy a new watch) and see the time was 10:50 and I still was on the south of the river!! Thankfully we started moving within a couple of minutes of me noticing the time although that was a LONG few minutes! Eventually I got up to Hendon Station some 2 hours after I got on the train, as I was walking up the stairs a guy who had been sitting in the same carriage as me asked if I was going to ‘The Peel Centre’ so we decided that we would share a cab, saves us both paying out after all.

I make it to Hendon, and check in at the desk with about 5 minutes to spare, we then get asked to wait in a waiting room, there were about 45 of us in this one room, and it was a tad crampt, so I decide to loiter in the corridor just outside as it is actually cooler out there than it was in the waiting room. Then the time came! We were asked to follow a member of staff up to the room where we were going to take the PIRT and Report Writing Exams. The room that we were using was very similar to a university lecture hall, we had to fill out a few forms before we could get started, we were run through the instructions and then that was it the PIRT had begun! The first paper that we took was PIRT 3 – Working with numbers, 25 questions and we had 12 minutes to complete this part of the test. That was the quickest 12 minutes that I have ever known!! It only felt like 2 minutes between getting told to start and getting told 1 minute remaining!! Still I had managed to answer all of the questions and I was happy with them as well. Straight after we had finished this it was onto PIRT 4 – Verbal Reasoning. This test was 31 questions in 25 minutes. I started the test and I had finished it in less than 15 minutes! So I spent the remaining time going through the paper with a fine tooth comb making sure that I was 110% happy with everything, I only ended up changing 2 answers. And that was that the PIRT was done, we were then given 5 minutes to have a drink etc whilst the room was prepared for our final rest. During the break most of us were chatting and the general feeling among most of us was that we had done our best, and that was all we could do.

So our break was now over, and back up to the examination room for the final part of our testing for the day, the Written Report, this was the one bit that I was dreading having not written anything more than a few notes in the best part of 5 years or so! So we are all back in the exam room and we are once again explained what we are needed to do, the video was put on. We were shown a sample video clip 3 times, the second time it was in slow motion, and then we were shown a sample report. Then that was it, our video which we had to make notes on was turned on, it was in the same format as the sample, played 3 times, with the second time being played at half speed. The clip was shown and the stop watch began, we had 30 minutes to write a report and a conclusion on what we had seen. A few things that needed to be remembered when writing the report was that it needed to be in the ‘past tense’ and also you needed to provide a conclusion at the end of the report. Having now experienced the test it was not as bad as I had thought it would be, when it actually came to it I just seemed to go into ‘Autopilot’ and before I know it I had an A4 sheet full of my report.

Once this was finished we were lead back downstairs into another waiting room, where they put the Tennis on the TV to try and help relieve the tension. The first couple of people were taken out and were told that they had failed, one of them by one mark as well! However unfortunately there has to be a cut off somewhere. Then a group of 8 people were called out together and all taken into a side room, it was obvious they had passed as they were being handed out videos etc… gradually more and more people were called out one by one and all being told that they had failed. Then there were only about 15 of us remaining to get our results. Then another batch of 8 were called together and I was the last to be called (curse having a W surname sometimes) Once I was told I was relieved/happy/excited it actually felt better than when I passed my driving test!!

I feel for those who failed today, especially some of them who travelled well over 150 miles to attend! But I am sure that they will carry on trying and get in if they persevere with it.

Ian

Shaolin

Ian.....was there a reason, other than more money, for you wanting to join the met?

IanW

My reason for joining the Met was that I have a few good mates who are already in there, and I have had the chance to expierience the job that they do.

Yes the fact that the Met pays more was a bit of a bonus, but I would still apply for the Met even if they were only paying £20k!

scoob_babe

as you can see, he passed the report writing exam

Shaolin

scoob_babe

SiPie

LOL @ Scoob_babe

Briliant

[Edited by SiPie - 6/13/2003 1:35:09 PM]

terzo42

join the police and lose your so-called mates,sad but true ive seen it happen

RussP

My brother in law lodges with us atthe moment and has just applied to the Met.

An interesting way of telling me he doesn't want to stay here any more i guess.

IanW

Isn't that waht I said above Anna

bigsinky

shaolin

come join a real police force - RUC or PSNI if we want to be PC. at least we get to carry guns all the time. having said that if any gun is unholstered then it takes a week to fill in the paperwork and 6 months for the enquiry to finish