Port of Tilbury-Police Constable

[Fedster + 1,307]

New Police Now programme is still under development.

A Police Now PC giving a presentation at a 2017 event

Date - 10th September 2018
By - Ian Weinfass - Police Oracle

6 Comments

 

Forces will be offered the chance to join a new Police Now detective training programme within the next two months, a director has said.

The Home Office announced in June that it had granted £350,000 to the charity to develop a programme which would members of the public into detectives in 12 weeks.

But Police Oracle quickly established that the 12-week timescale was an aspiration and not actually a firm plan.

Police Now programme director Kurtis Christoforides has now told this website that forces will be offered an initial version of the scheme in around six weeks’ time. And he hopes the first wannabe detectives will be put on it towards the end of 2019.

The scheme will be based on the existing work done under Police Now’s graduate scheme for constables, where recruits have six-weeks of intensive training before a 28-day immersion their force before becoming independent neighbourhood officers. They complete a two-year probation period while preparing evidence based policing reports for their peers.

But Mr Christoforides said: “We run a fast tempo and an intensive compressed academy around that. Our starting point is we will bring some of those things to the detective space, hence the original 12-week suggestion. It’s all still in the development.”

The proposals it comes up with will be subject to feedback from forces which may see them adapted, he said, and it is not yet known how much, if any, time the recruits will serve in uniform.

“I’d be hesitant to describe what we’re doing as fast track detectives because the exact structure of how that piece will work is not yet finalised. For instance you’ve got the Met direct entry detective programme where one is a detective pretty much from day one, you’ve got the detective pathway [elsewhere] where perhaps you spend a year in uniform, two years on other things,” he said.

“We need to decide in conjunction with forces what does that look like for our programme, for example what level of exposure will be necessary to understand the different parts of policing as well as the investigative space.”

He added that the plans include working within the existing framework of National Investigators’ Exams but that the uniform Police Now programme consists of numerous bespoke exams and tests, so the new scheme will likely be similar.

It will not be compulsory for any force to adopt the new scheme, the Home Office said.

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[ParochialYokal 1,119]

There is a difference between an initial training period and the ongoing continued professional development associated with passing the relevant investigator exams, followed by supervised practice and evidencing competency required to become independent and then confirmed.

 

I don’t think we need another thread arguing why direct entry detectives is a proposition worse than burning someone at the stake. However, I would query why the Home Office is funding this ‘charity’ as opposed to working with the College of Policing in order to develop best practice about training for the direct entrants? Perhaps I have missed something.

 

 

[Mac7 808]

I have zero experience of Police Now and from what I’ve read, I don’t want to either. It seems to be a fluffy bubble where sociology graduates debate for the zillionth time whether cannabis should be legalised or how offenders are the true victims of societies failing [emoji42][emoji42]

I can imagine reality bites when deployed operationally.

I’ve not really added much parochial but to be called a D in 12 weeks is embarrassing.

[ParochialYokal 1,119]

I’ve not really added much parochial but to be called a D in 12 weeks is embarrassing.

On the MET scheme, Officers are ‘Trainee Detectives’ for 2 years.

I doubt that any scheme is allow someone to be called a D in 12 weeks (or even 6 months).

[Beaker 817]

I have zero experience of Police Now and from what I’ve read, I don’t want to either. It seems to be a fluffy bubble where sociology graduates debate for the zillionth time whether cannabis should be legalised or how offenders are the true victims of societies failing [emoji42][emoji42]

I can imagine reality bites when deployed operationally.

I’ve not really added much parochial but to be called a D in 12 weeks is embarrassing.

I've worked with some Police Now folks. Some are keen to stuck in, some are wet blankets. The mileage varies as you'd expect from the variety of people involved. I'd say that they do vary somewhat from the traditional regular officers though in their approach to some things. Not better, not worse, just a different slant on some things.

[Billy Blue Tac 170]

This looks like it's a fast track ICIDP similar to what the NCA were/are doing to get PIP2 investigators over two years.

Edited September 10, 2018 by Billy Blue Tac