Police recruits

[Stephen]

I'm surprised they don't have half day closing on Wednesday.

[towny44]

I'm surprised they don't have half day closing on Wednesday.

Do not put ideas into their heads.

[Stephen]

You wonder why you bother Ray. We have a similar set up where we live, office hours.

Opening Hours

Monday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Tuesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Wednesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Thursday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Friday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Saturday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Sunday
Closed

Thanks for the tip Stephen, so its better to break into your house between 5:00pm and 9:00am Mon - Fri or all day Sunday then

No need to break in Ray, I'll leave the door open. Bu99er all worth nicking

[Onelife]

I can see the merits of having a better educated police force, indeed I think it is essential that we encourage the recruitment of university graduates into our police force. Of course that isn't to say they will make any better police officer than Mr plod who used to patrols our streets but crime has moved on a pace over the past ten years or so to the extent that much of it now takes place by way of the internet.

That being said I still think our police force needs its grass root bobbies who know how the working man/woman/child live their lives..empathy isn't something you can teach in front of a computer it is something that is retained by having been brought up in the environment where real people have been brought up in and have to live their lives.

I, and I dare say many of you will have been brought up in such environments...the one where you did your damnedest to out run the local bobby but if you got caught you put it down as a fair catch because you had respect for your local bobby, and the consequences that would befall you when it got reported to your parents... I can hear it now.. knock knock whose there...Oh sh*t!...time for the belt.

Naah...there is room for both well educated and less well educated in a modern police force..me thinks.

[wolfie]

Do any of you, with the police jokes and put downs, actually have family members as a serving officer?
We do!

Our daughter has a good 2:1 degree in a traditional subject from a top university. Whilst studying she was a special constable, an unpaid role.

She had always wanted to be a police officer but spent a few years, after graduating and prior to applying, in work that would enhance her application, some voluntary and others at a minimum wage, but relevant to the selection process which is rigorous, both mentally and physically.

She choose NOT to use the fast track entry scheme for graduates preferring to gain the respect of her colleagues by proving her worth at her job. She still doesn't seek promotion, NOT because that entails exams, but because it would take her away from the front line policing that she loves and put her behind a desk with even more paperwork than she has at present.

However, after 7+ years she has not been content to remain just a PC. She is riot trained, taser trained, a response car driver and recently undertook what she considered the most challenging course ever, and is now a specialised search officer- those that you see on TV conducting searches in high profile cases.

All of the above require extreme fitness and application and she is re tested annually to ascertain that she is still competent in each of the roles. If she fails then that discipline is taken away.

So, don't tar all police officers with the same brush. As in all jobs and professions there are the workers and the shirkers, the dedicated and those just in it for the monthly pay cheque. She will be finishing a probably difficult Christmas Eve shift at 7am on Christmas Day and is fortunate that she won't have to drive back another 200 miles on Christmas Night for an early shift, as has happened before. She never gets both days off, and sometime neither, as do many others working in such professions.

[Silver_Shiney]

I salute your daughter, Wolfie, and I have tremendous respect for the police. I couldn't begin to do their job.

I maintain, though, that it is not necessary for every copper to be university educated. A good standard of education, yes, but uni-trained? No

[Stephen]

Do any of you, with the police jokes and put downs, actually have family members as a serving officer?
We do!

Our daughter has a good 2:1 degree in a traditional subject from a top university. Whilst studying she was a special constable, an unpaid role.

She had always wanted to be a police officer but spent a few years, after graduating and prior to applying, in work that would enhance her application, some voluntary and others at a minimum wage, but relevant to the selection process which is rigorous, both mentally and physically.

She choose NOT to use the fast track entry scheme for graduates preferring to gain the respect of her colleagues by proving her worth at her job. She still doesn't seek promotion, NOT because that entails exams, but because it would take her away from the front line policing that she loves and put her behind a desk with even more paperwork than she has at present.

However, after 7+ years she has not been content to remain just a PC. She is riot trained, taser trained, a response car driver and recently undertook what she considered the most challenging course ever, and is now a specialised search officer- those that you see on TV conducting searches in high profile cases.

All of the above require extreme fitness and application and she is re tested annually to ascertain that she is still competent in each of the roles. If she fails then that discipline is taken away.

So, don't tar all police officers with the same brush. As in all jobs and professions there are the workers and the shirkers, the dedicated and those just in it for the monthly pay cheque. She will be finishing a probably difficult Christmas Eve shift at 7am on Christmas Day and is fortunate that she won't have to drive back another 200 miles on Christmas Night for an early shift, as has happened before. She never gets both days off, and sometime neither, as do many others working in such professions.

As you say wolfie, many other professions are in the same boat. But, you don't go into these types of job if you want a 9-5 role.

[barney]

Seriously though, my son works for Kent Police and he also has a degree.

He's sharp as a tack and very practical.

As in any profession, there are good and bad, but I'd be willing to wager that in our police force, the vast, vast majority are good.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Do any of you, with the police jokes and put downs, actually have family members as a serving officer?
We do!

Our daughter has a good 2:1 degree in a traditional subject from a top university. Whilst studying she was a special constable, an unpaid role.

She had always wanted to be a police officer but spent a few years, after graduating and prior to applying, in work that would enhance her application, some voluntary and others at a minimum wage, but relevant to the selection process which is rigorous, both mentally and physically.

She choose NOT to use the fast track entry scheme for graduates preferring to gain the respect of her colleagues by proving her worth at her job. She still doesn't seek promotion, NOT because that entails exams, but because it would take her away from the front line policing that she loves and put her behind a desk with even more paperwork than she has at present.

However, after 7+ years she has not been content to remain just a PC. She is riot trained, taser trained, a response car driver and recently undertook what she considered the most challenging course ever, and is now a specialised search officer- those that you see on TV conducting searches in high profile cases.

All of the above require extreme fitness and application and she is re tested annually to ascertain that she is still competent in each of the roles. If she fails then that discipline is taken away.

So, don't tar all police officers with the same brush. As in all jobs and professions there are the workers and the shirkers, the dedicated and those just in it for the monthly pay cheque. She will be finishing a probably difficult Christmas Eve shift at 7am on Christmas Day and is fortunate that she won't have to drive back another 200 miles on Christmas Night for an early shift, as has happened before. She never gets both days off, and sometime neither, as do many others working in such professions.

Yes we do too. And I admire anyone who can do the job well. But that's not everyone. But most of all I don't admire the bureaucrats who make the job more difficult.

We also have to be real. The police, like the NHS, councils, fire service and pretty much every public service, have suffered cuts because the country is hugely in debt. That is why we don't get the same service we used to, particularly with what are judged to be less serious misdemeanours.

We could have it all back if we're prepared to have big tax increases. But when people say the government should hand over more money they need to realise the government doesn't have any money. They only judge how to spend ours.