Police, Fire & Rescue Services

Working in Working Now on the internet www.connexions-direct.com/ wipolice police, fire & rescue services Includes 24 real-life case studies covering: G Police • investigation • on the beat • civilian G Fire & Rescue • firefighting • communications Security and • HM Coastguard Armed Forces Contents What is this booklet about? 2 It is one of over 40 in a series covering many Police work sectors, subjects and careers. Each book contains a number of case studies showing young Detective Constable people in a variety of jobs. All telling you how it is – Traffic officer including the good things and the bad. Community safety officer Each job shows you what qualifications you will need, Beat officer what training you can get and how much you might be Police constable (probationer) paid. Also, you will see which route each person took in Custody sergeant getting that job. Police community support officer Public enquiry officer How can I find out more? Financial investigator Look on the website www.connexions-direct.com/jobs4u which Force enquiry officer contains background information on these featured jobs plus many more. You can talk to your Connexions personal adviser who will help Crime scene investigator you research more details. Or you can contact one of the organisations Clerical officer listed at the back of the book. 17 How can I contact Connexions? Fire and Rescue Services In person through a Connexions personal adviser who might be based at your school, college or reached at your local Firefighter Connexions centre. By telephone, text, webchat or e-mail Community safety officer through Connexions Direct. Open seven days a week, Fire station manager between 8 a.m. and 2 a.m. Fire control operator (trainee) Check out www.connexions-direct.com or look in the Arson co-ordinator telephone book to find your local centre. Or ring ICT engineer 080 800 13219 or text on 07766 413219 for Equality adviser Connexions Direct. Administrative officer – property Other formats of this booklet are available – services for details see back cover. Recruitment officer Analyst Key to salary icons up to £12,000 30 HM Coastguard £12,001 to £17,000 Watch officer over £17,000 Sector manager This represents the typical starting salary for the job 33 featured in the case study. Useful addresses Working in police, fire and rescue services So, you want to work for the emergency services? Each day, you are likely to see many of the people doing the jobs featured in this booklet – police officers on the beat or in cars and fire officers travelling to an emergency. If you live near the sea, you may see coastguards staffing ships, lighthouses and co-ordinating coastal rescue operations. However, behind the public face of these services there are Would I have to wear thousands of other people doing essential support jobs. They may a uniform? be in uniform and instantly recognisable or they may be civilians Personnel whose job brings working for the services in a variety of specialist roles. These them into contact with the include accountants, engineers, IT specialists, mechanics, human public are usually in the resources and recruitment specialists, medical staff and those in uniformed branch. This general administrative jobs. enables them to be easily The Police Service in England and Wales is made up of 43 police recognisable and provides forces. Similarly, there are 50 local fire and rescue services, each them with visual authority. under the command of a chief fire officer.The Maritime and In the police, some work in Coastguard Agency is one of many rescue services who safeguard plain clothes either as CID our wellbeing and deal with emergency situations. There are or special branch officers or similar services covering Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. when on special duties. Civilian employees do not How can I join one of these services? usually wear uniform. Simply contact your local police, fire or coastguard headquarters. Vacancies may also be advertised in the local press. You can How do I get a civilian job check out the vacancies list and careers details on the websites in one of these services? in the Useful addresses/Further information section at the back of The same way. Apply to your this booklet. You can apply at 18 for appointment at 18.5 years local police station, of age. coastguard station, fire station or regional authority I don’t have many GCSEs or other qualifications. Can I still join? or watch for advertisements Yes. There are no minimum educational standards specified for in the local press. Tell them many of the jobs beyond a reasonable standard of secondary what you would like to do education. This is to ensure that you can benefit from the training and what experience you and cope with the part of the job that requires writing reports have to offer. and understanding instructions. What about training? Once you pass the initial assessment, which will include a medical for uniformed positions, you will undertake basic training. For instance, in the police, all entrants have to complete basic training at one of the training schools and pass their probationary period before they can start applying for specialist departments, such as in traffic or special investigation work. I have a degree. Are there schemes for graduates? Yes. Graduates entering the emergency services are recruited and trained like all other officers. The police service operates a high potential development scheme to fast track suitable applicants. Specialist staff such as accountants, engineers or forensic experts are recruited at any age and do not have to undergo basic training. Other administrative jobs are available where a degree might be useful, or even essential. 1 Police service As a police officer you will gain a range of highly valued and transferable skills to enable you to do the job. Other police staff play a vital role as well – working in partnership with police officers and special constables to ensure the service runs efficiently and effectively Detective constable Detective Robert Cox completed a degree in music before deciding on a career in the police. In the eight years since he joined Kent Police, Robert has faced more variety and challenges than most of us experience in a lifetime. He is about to be promoted to detective sergeant. What does a detective do? How did you progress? Do you have a typical day? As a detective, you could be called in to I spent four years as a patrol officer Currently, I work mainly behind a desk attend the scenes of crimes – everything from before moving into a Beat Crime unit. from 7.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m., Monday to murders to armed robberies. I’ve interviewed Things have changed now as new Friday. When I get promoted, though, I’ll serious criminals and travelled all over the recruits only need to do 12 months of be back on a shift pattern. The country to talk to, and arrest, suspects. training before choosing a career path opportunity to change jobs and roles is in either the uniformed or CID branch. one of the big advantages of my job. Are there different types of detective? Before my current post, I spent a year with What kind of training have you received? What are your long-term career goals? Tactical Criminal Investigation Department After my probationary training I My recent post helped me to develop skills (CID). This is a proactive crime investigation completed a Higher Education in managing a team and dealing with unit, targeting specific criminals and crimes. Certificate in Policing Studies. I have other departments within the organisation. The job involves working closely with an regularly attended training courses such This was an excellent development intelligence unit which does the actual as crime investigation, interview platform for further promotion to senior hidden surveillance and checks out training, advanced driving and scene officer specialising in the investigation of information from informants, for instance. and incident management. major and serious crime. I sometimes appear on the BBC’s More recently, I went through a rigorous Crimewatch programme, appealing to the selection process to win a place on an public for information. advanced detective training programme. This is a combination of academic study Robert’s route What is your current post? and practical training, leading to a At the moment, I am an acting detective degree in Applied Criminal Investigation. • A Levels. sergeant in the crime management unit. • Degree in music. This unit is responsible for assessing What do you enjoy about the work? some of the crime reports that come in, • Police probationer training. I enjoy investigating and finding out and allocating who should respond and • BSc Applied Criminal Investigation. what has happened. The work is mentally carry out the subsequent investigations. challenging and, at times, physically I supervise 10 members of staff. It’s an Robert’s tip demanding. I get a real sense of interesting combination of crime achievement from taking an initial call investigation and human resource • Go out, live life and get some from a member of the public through to management. experience of the world first – it will a successful conviction at court. There is make you a more effective police a lot of team work in this environment officer when you join. and that really suits me. 2 Working in police, fire and rescue services Traffic officer Police officer Shane Schucroft used to work in the motor industry. In his spare time he swapped his suit for a police Related jobs uniform, patrolling the streets of Diss in Norfolk as a special constable. Civil Service executive officer Crime scene investigator/scenes of After realising that policing was the crime officer (SOCO) Private investigator career for him he applied to join the Security officer/manager Norfolk Constabulary.

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