General Policing Discussions

Hello, First time posting on here so I thought I should start with saying how impressed I am that people work as Special Constables. It's a tough and often thankless job and you actually *volunteer* to do this and be involved with people you don't know, in not-exactly-great situations. Amazing. Really. So, obviously (since I'm on here reading and now posting ) this is something that I am seriously considering but I do have a concern about how well I could actually do this work. Mostly my experience, apart from general office jobs, has been in special needs/childcare/vulnerable people care so I have had shedloads of responsibility for people and dealing with dif…

The media has recently been discussing proposals relating to young drivers and ways to help reduce their casualty and death rates. Young drivers would seem to range from 17-24 years of age, under 25 years. That is irrespective of when they passed their driving test. The benefits would seem obvious if we polarise our view and only think of the young thoughtless driver being the fool at the wheel, but the impact on the remaining sensible young drivers could be far reaching - for example all those young police officers biting at the bit to get behind the wheel of a police vehicle. Proposals include curfews and no young passengers. For the young police officer that is a …

Discussed on Jeremy Vine's show today was the fact that Nottinghamshire and Essex Police have disbanded mounted departments and that 14 other forces are looking at either regionalising mounted units or totally abolishing them. More background at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2236239/Mounted-police-horse-units-scrapped-budget-cutbacks.html?ito=feeds-newsxml Whilst they may be a cost drain they are invaluable for the types of event they are used for and how would you replace them? After all you would need water canon to replicate the effect of a mounted charge and that's only a tiny proportion of horses uses. What do you think?

I've just watched End Of Watch (great film by the way) and was thinking would the partner system that they seem to have in the states (according to the movies and TV I watch) work in this country. I have a friend whose area does something very similar where you work with the same person on your team for a year, however it tends not to work as people still drift towards those people they like working with. I know there are certain people I couldn't be paired up with on my shift however I think if you worked with someone every day you would get to know there way of working and likewise they would yours. Still not sure whether it would be a good thing for me or a bad thin…

I went to a 'Military Re-enactors' day a while ago (Walt Central believe me !!)( Although I was rather taken with the young redheaded lady who was dressed as a WW2 WRNS 3rd officer (complete with seamed stockings) who I stalked kept bumping into over the afternoon )....anyway At one of the stalls the guy was selling old badges and insignia, amongst which was a 'Complete set of Metropolitan Police Insignia'. This included a 2 stripe badge, and a three stripe badge with a crown over the stripes (a la George Dixon for those old enough to remember). I believe these are for Acting Sergeant and Station Sergeant respectively (but I am sure someone is going to correct me!) W…

Am I the only person that does not understand the new "performance framework" when applying for roles? In the last year or so the application forms have changed. The old style "competencies" are gone and have been replaced with three headings. Operational effectiveness, Organisational influence, Resource management. ​The old system I understood, It was pretty straight forward, you took almost any policing experience and highlighted the positive indicators (which were on a separate list). I always scored highly on the old system. This new system was supposed to be easier, although to me it just sounds like a load of middle management buzz words.The kind of thing peop…

Do you think its acceptable for a 17/18 year old to go out on response for a shift if they are applying for the specials and would like the experience? If they arent serious about joining or immature etc then I would be totally against it, however if trustworthy Is their a problem?

Various threads on this forum over the years have had arguements over the legislation and requirements for training. Despite claims to the contrary the statutory training requirement for high speed driving and a statutory requirement for any training to use other exemptions (red lights, keep left signs, et al) are not in place. However, rumours over impending implemetation have flown around. The current position is that consultation has begun to bring section 19 of the Road Safety Act (2006) be into effect. As well as determining how implemetation will occur in practice the consultation seeks to also consider: - widening the group of organisations able to use the spe…

Okay, so many SCs do not recieve any money or bounty for duty. Should there be a way for SCs to claim tax relief on their uniform, as per the regulars? Also, what about any other equipment we buy, i.e. torch, bags, holders, underlayers....? In my view, especially uniform, the inland revenue and individual forces need to understand there are many more costs to being a special constable than just simply travelling expenses. Does anyone know if a petition has been raised to the inland revenue to give the £60 uniform allowance to SCs and take this allowance from other earned income? It seems as if forces where a £1,000 bounty is given, are able to claim the tax relief, s…

Hi all, I have now past all of the stages! Start training January 26th cant wait. Thanks to everyone that has helped. I will be continuing to use this site to help others as you helped me.

Ok guys, Today is the big day for me.. Got my medical and this is the last stage in my recruitment process.. Some of you may know my BMI is 35.9 so quite abit over.. Im so nervous and just dont want to fail. Think its crazy how 1 examination could determine your career choice or at least put it on hold for a long while. I shall update you all at around 2pm. My medical is at 10am in rugby police station Warwickshire. Thanks, Neal.

So, what shifts do you work? Apologies if there is already a thread, I couldn't find anything under the search.

At the moment, I have a Civil Service Pension (on 32k a year) in which I have got about 16 years. I am hoping to join the regs next year. Just wondering how many years roughly I would lose on my civil service pension if I transferred it to a police pension? Is there a time-span in which a pension must be transferred over? Thanks

Hi Does anyone know exactly what level of vetting the Special Constabulary is vetted to? Is this the same level for Regular Colleagues?

How much does it cost to recruit, train, equip and pay, for say 2 years (probation period) a PC? The reason I'd like to know is I've heard that the PCC elections have cost somewhere in the region of 100 million. I would like to know how many PCs that could have bought.