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Hey all, first post! I'm currently in the 7th week of my student training, and I'm noticing I'm sort of hovering around 60% in my in class knowledge checks and was wondering from everyones experiences what they found was the best for learning the law in terms of books? thanks! jack

Hi, I am student who is studying policing degree at Coventry university, I will be on my 2nd year bear year, I want to find out the process for policing as placement year who would be best to contact

Week 4 was certainly an interesting one. It saw my first arrest for drink driving, once again looking for a missing person who was allowed to walk out of where she was being cared and also saw me attend a nasty domestic between a mother and son. I am now confident is how to deal with missing people and compact, I feel confident in dealing with drink drivers but I am still a little unsure on domestics. I have been to a few now but there is something about them that I just cannot seem to grasp. Perhaps it is the pure desperation that these people are experiencing and I am the only person that they can turn to to sort out their lives when they are at rock bottom. Hopefully I will be able to get the hang of them and deliver the service that those victims expect of me. The excitement and thrill of being a police officer was not wearing thin as it is a job like no other however I was becoming mentally and physically exhausted and the demand on the body and brain was one I had never imagined. Despite this it is such an exciting job that you just forget about how drained you are and get on with it, leaving work knowing that you might have made a difference to someone’s life is enough for me. You most certainly get dunked in the deep end on your 10 weeks but the excitement of it all leaves me itching for the next shift.

Week 1 of being an operational police officer certainly saw me out of my depth and struggling to come to terms with the position I was now in, however, it was also the most exhilarating and interesting week. It was an uphill battle from the very beginning, trying to remember the training we had been given but also trying to bring the human being element into it as well. Week 1 involved my first arrest, a warrant on a shipping container, first domestic, a hate crime, a sudden death and a high risk missing person enquiry. My first arrest was a terrifying experience however it was something that will stay with me forever. I feel that it went well and I was able to remember all my training and the correct processes whilst dealing with the arrested male. When I was called to attend a sudden death I was terrified about how I was going to deal with it as I had never seen someone dead before. Looking back on it I will admit that I was verging on being in shock when we arrived and although the family dealt with it well I did not really know what to say to them. It was a massive learning curve and feel ready to lead on the next. The main struggle for me this week has been getting to grips with the computer systems. Having had our training on this before Christmas and completely forgetting how to use it, it has been extremely difficult and almost embarrassing having to keep asking people how to work it. I do feel a little more comfortable on it however still have a long way to go to figuring it all out. It is a massive emotional and physical drain dealing with so many different people day in day out, most of whom are at rock bottom, however what I have certainly learnt from this week is that the main skill in becoming a good police officer is your ability to talk and engage with people.

Week 3 saw me grow in confidence at jobs and experience my first bit of confrontation although not physical just a heated exchange of words. I have never really been a very confrontational person and coming into the job I was a little worried about how I would react in those situations however I felt that I managed the situation well and with a little help from Alan all was resolved and the suspect taken to custody. This week saw me experience Berrywood for the very first time and I am sure it will not be the last. The woman we were looking for just walked straight out of the hospital even though she was sectioned, I cannot understand how this was allowed to happen however that is not for me to worry about it is for me to find them, make sure they are safe and well and return them to the hospital. Week 3 saw my first foot chase although running 50 meters after a very drunk 14 year old who had sprung out of the police car, I am not sure it really counts. Dealing with her was a challenging job. There was absolutely no reasoning with her which was tough and trying to make her see sense was just falling on deaf ears. Eventually Alan and I left her with her mother and advised that if she had any more problems to call us. I visited my first prison which was an exciting job and one that I will certainly not forget. What I have realised this week is that being a police officer entails so much more than fighting and solving crime; I feel like I am a counsellor, a metal health nurse, an ear for those who have no one else among other things but the thing that I am enjoying most about this job is how varied it is from day to day. I've been worried about the massive pressure to get everything right but I've had so much advice and support from everyone in my team already that even after 3 weeks I feel part of the furniture.

This week saw me work my first ever night shifts, something that I was certainly not looking forward to when I became operational and was not sure how I would cope with them. It is safe to say that although they are a shock to the system it is the early shifts that are the worst! I was still at the stage where I was more comfortable watching and learning from Alan as this is how I have always best learnt however towards the end of the week I was a lot more confident on being the first one into the incident. Two weeks in and already two sudden deaths down. I knew that this was part of the job but certainly didn’t think they would come around like this! Having taken the lead on my second I now feel confident in what to do at sudden deaths. This week also saw my first domestic assault which proved very difficult to handle as not only was it at 0600 and I was extremely tired but also the IP being hysterical I found it hard to cope. Nonetheless I coped well and onto the next. I nicked my second drug driver which was very satisfying and again confident in the drug drive procedure. All round a pretty good week and looking forward to the next.

Thought it was about time I did a little update on here, thanks to @PC123WANNABE for reminding me! Since I last posted, I've pretty much completed my time as a tutored constable and will be being made independent in the next couple of weeks. At the end of the classroom training, you go out to your station and work with another officer who's a trained 'Tutor' for a number of weeks until you're allowed to work independently. In my force, the tutorship is 15 weeks. You usually get assigned one tutor and remain with that person the whole time with a midway review and a big review with your Sgt at the end to check you're ready. For me, I had one tutor until about half way until she went off sick (not my fault I promise!!). Since then, I've been with other officers, basically whoever is free, and for the past couple of weeks I've been with a traffic officer who's currently on beat and is a trained tutor. I've learnt so much in my time with my tutors and I've managed to tick pretty much everything off the 'to-do' list of incidents required to become independent. These are pretty standard things but range from dealing with a Domestic, which I've had plenty of, attending RTC's, completing files, going to CPS for advice, giving cannabis warnings, drink drive procedure, searching etc etc the list goes on but everything kind of ticks itself off during the 15 weeks! I was really worried at the beginning that 15 weeks isn't enough time to become confident and despite still absolutely pooping myself about going to my first call alone, I've gained so much confidence with my tutors that I really do feel like I might be somewhere near ready. I think I've become the shifts own personal #### magnet, everything I touch seems to end up being much more complicated than it first seemed. I've had a couple of really complicated domestics that I've found it difficult to deal with in terms of the workload and files, especially without a solid tutor during this time, but I think that's mostly due to being new and not knowing what jobs to prioritise, so just doing everything as if it's urgent and pretty much burning myself at both ends every shift. I'd say that hardest thing I've had to do so far is definitely the files, which is something I never expected when joining this job. I knew there would be paperwork, because what job is without it, but I didn't expect to spend some 10 hour shifts sat behind a desk for 8 hours completing files and typing like a crazy lady. I've had moments where I've been so stressed, my brain is absolutely fried, I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing and I'm so scared to get things wrong. But for every one of those moments, I've had someone on my shift there to help me and pick me back up. It's such a family environment and I'd like to imagine it's like that at every station. It's a bloody hard job, especially the stuff behind the scenes. But I absolutely love the satisfaction of getting a file in, or getting a nasty offender charged, the feeling of helping a really vulnerable victim and the adrenaline of going to calls. Like I said, I've been with a traffic officer for the past few weeks so I've done a lot of traffic work which I've really enjoyed. Last night alone I had two 165 no insurance seizures, a mobile phone ticket, two breathalyzers and a driver warning. I love that even when the shift is a bit quieter in terms of calls, there's nothing stopping you from going out and finding your own work, which is what we did last night, checking every car that moves and getting the naughty ones of the road. I think from the last few weeks traffic is something I'd really be interested in looking into in the future. But then again, everything else looks so fun too!! I've had some scary moments, attending at houses in the middle of the night when domestics or burglaries are reported, but the moment that stands out to me as the scariest so far is when we were driving to custody with a prisoner when we were flagged down by a man who said his child had come out of her canoe and gone in the river and was being dragged away by the fast current. I've never ran over fields so fast in my life. My colleague called it in an units started flying to us from everywhere. I got to the bank where the family were all screaming the child's name and luckily she'd just managed to get to the edge to be pulled out. I could barely get a word in edge ways over the radio to tell everyone to stand down but I don't think my heart rate has ever got so high!! Luckily a happy ending with nobody hurt but for days I couldn't help but think how much worse it could have ended. I really feel like an actual officer now, I've found my own style of doing things and my own way of speaking to people and even though I still make mistakes, and sometimes they're silly ones, I learn something new every day and face something that challenges me pretty much every shift. In terms of working shifts, I've absolutely loved it. I wasn't sure how I'd cope with nights but actually it's morning shifts that I dislike the most! I haven't had many weekends off but to be honest I haven't really minded. It is a sacrifice to your social and family life, I definitely don't see my family or friends as much, but it's really worth it. I can still say I leave for every shift so excited to get to work, and that's something I'll not be taking for granted anytime soon!!

Mature students and construction workers top the list of most common people to have a drink or drug-driving conviction Of the 10 professions with the highest rates, 7 were part of the building trade Scaffolders, brickies and labourers all featured in the top 10 Live-at-home mature students were identified as the most likely to have a drink or drug-driving blemish on their record MoneySuperMarket reviewed 9.8 million insurance quotes to reach the results By Rob Hull For Thisismoney.co.uk Published: 13:53, 19 January 2017 | Updated: 13:53, 19 January 2017 Full story http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-4112820/The-10-professions-drink-driving-convictions.html Quite interesting (although unsurprising) that police officers are the least likely people to drink and drive.

Hey guys, I'm due to start my police officer training soon as whilst I was at work I noticed that somebody was selling the Blackstone's Handbook for Policing Students 2014 for £15 and was wondering whether it would be worth buying? Have any other you used it and would you say it's worth it? Thanks in advance! XA84

I am currently looking to sell my Blackstone 2015 manuals along with crammer guides from Police Pass. In total there are 8 books covering the following 4 topics; - Evidence & Procedure - General Policing Duties - Roads Policing - Crime Blackstone's Police Manuals 2015 Four Volumes RRP = £79.99 Police Pass Crammer Guide 2015 Four Volumes RRP = £69.99 These books are ideal for any new student constable, someone looking to brush up on their knowledge or those looking to start studying for their OSPRE exam. Blackstone's are the only College of Policing endorsed manuals around, this means that they are the official police line when it comes to current legislation and procedure, there is nobody else who offers the vast knowledge that they do. I am looking for a sensible offer but I am willing to have a discussion regarding the price if you PM me. I look forward to hearing from you.

Jury out over policeman accused of knocking out student's tooth during demo Published: 15 May 2015 Updated: 20:32, 15 May 2015 A jury in the trial of a police officer who allegedly knocked out a protester's tooth with a riot shield has retired to consider its verdict. Pc Andrew Ott, 36, was taped on his personal recording device threatening violence towards crowds gathered near the Houses of Parliament during the 2010 student protests over tuition fees. It is alleged that when Royal Holloway student William Horner tried to break free from a kettled area on Parliament Square, Ott struck out with his shield, knocking out the student's tooth. He is also accused of conspiring with two colleagues to come up with a reason to falsely arrest the student after he was injured. Clips of the incident have been played to the jury at Southwark Crown Court. Ott, of Rochester, Kent, denies one charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and a further charge of perverting the course of justice. London Evening Standard YouTube