The Student Room Group
Discovering Higher and Degree Apprenticeships with UWE Bristol, get free advice >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Discovering Higher and Degree Apprenticeships with UWE Bristol, get free advice >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>

Any Special Constables around?

Hey there,

Just wondering if there are any specials on here? I'm thinking about it and there's an upcoming recruitment seminar I may attend. Would love to know more about the job!

Cheers
Reply 1
Avatar for Aack
Aack
Good luck is all I'll say.

You'd think they would bite your hand off for offering, but it's not easy to get in.
Reply 2
Avatar for dbmag9
dbmag9
15
Jace Falco
i are special

..
Reply 3
Avatar for Lu-x
Lu-x
OP
16
Original post by Aack
Good luck is all I'll say.

You'd think they would bite your hand off for offering, but it's not easy to get in.


The particular force I'm interested in seems to hold lots of recruitment seminars. I know about the recruitment process for the regulars pretty well, as have helped some friends with it who have just got in to the regulars. But yeah it didn't sound easy, and this force has one of the highest pass marks in the country :redface:
Reply 4
Avatar for boodeny
boodeny
7
What force are you applying for?

Just passed my medical for A&S and should be on the August training course.
Went out on a "Ride along" with a Response team the other week, absolutely brilliant experience!

Obviously not experienced the real thing, but good luck to you. Can't wait to start personally!
Yep, I've been doing it for about 4 years now, really enjoy it. Even if you don't want to make a career of it, you'll learn stuff you'd never learn anywhere else!
Original post by Lu-x
Hey there,

Just wondering if there are any specials on here? I'm thinking about it and there's an upcoming recruitment seminar I may attend. Would love to know more about the job!

Cheers


Which constabulary is it that you're applying for? The application process is pretty straightforward; most questions to do with recruitment are answered on this very helpful website.

As for the job itself, you'll do doing pretty much exactly the same as the regulars, just less of it :p: The best advice I can give is to put yourself forward, or you can risk being someone who just ends up tagging along with the regs and doing nothing for yourself. Your question is pretty broad - if you've got anything more specific you want to ask, feel free to PM me.
Reply 7
Avatar for Lu-x
Lu-x
OP
16
Original post by fruit_n_veg
Yep, I've been doing it for about 4 years now, really enjoy it. Even if you don't want to make a career of it, you'll learn stuff you'd never learn anywhere else!


Original post by Jace Falco
Which constabulary is it that you're applying for? The application process is pretty straightforward; most questions to do with recruitment are answered on this very helpful website.

As for the job itself, you'll do doing pretty much exactly the same as the regulars, just less of it :p: The best advice I can give is to put yourself forward, or you can risk being someone who just ends up tagging along with the regs and doing nothing for yourself. Your question is pretty broad - if you've got anything more specific you want to ask, feel free to PM me.


I'm going for Leicestershire police. How do you both find it fitting in with your normal work? Do they tend to be quite flexible? I'm a university student and worry about it fitting in especially around exam times. How many hours do you work in a week? About the assessment centre, do they ask you do any practical tasks like in the regular assessment centre? How did your families react to you doing the job? I know mine won't want me to do it, I'm dreading telling my parents but its something I really really want to do.

Cheers
Original post by Lu-x
I'm going for Leicestershire police. How do you both find it fitting in with your normal work? Do they tend to be quite flexible? I'm a university student and worry about it fitting in especially around exam times. How many hours do you work in a week? About the assessment centre, do they ask you do any practical tasks like in the regular assessment centre? How did your families react to you doing the job? I know mine won't want me to do it, I'm dreading telling my parents but its something I really really want to do.

Cheers


In terms of flexibility, I'm able just to choose any time and date I like, book it, and work then. I'm assigned to one of the reg intervention teams, so it's best for me to book my duties around their schedule, but not essential. It might depend on your skipper; they might impose certain restrictions, especially on a probationer, but at the end of the day they recognise that it's your time you're giving up.

The required minimum is 16 hours per month. It's good to do a bit extra sometimes - I tend to work at least 6-8 hours a week, and during the riots in August I worked 60 hours in the month - but as long as you keep up the minimum you'll be okay.

The assessment centre varies from force to force, but yes, you will be required to do some practical activities. Mine involved two written exercises and an interview, so nothing too daunting, but some apparently require you to make a presentation. Again, the website I linked is quite helpful with that.

All I can say with regards to your family is to tell them that it's not really very dangerous, and that you're doing a good thing and helping people.
Original post by Lu-x
I'm going for Leicestershire police. How do you both find it fitting in with your normal work? Do they tend to be quite flexible? I'm a university student and worry about it fitting in especially around exam times. How many hours do you work in a week? About the assessment centre, do they ask you do any practical tasks like in the regular assessment centre? How did your families react to you doing the job? I know mine won't want me to do it, I'm dreading telling my parents but its something I really really want to do.

Cheers


It might not be quite so flexible in the initial periods when you're just in, but will get more flexibility once you've been in a while and much more so once you're allowed out by yourself. Around stuff like exams or even if you have social events or anything, it's all very flexible. April/May last year were right down compared to the rest of the months due to exam season. Circumstances have allowed me to put a lot of hours recently but it's varied a lot month to month. All I'll say is it's better to do less often and longer shifts, even if you do that you'll exceed the minimum hours I'll bet. Also, be aware that there will be some mandatory ongoing training commitments (usually 1 evening a month/very occasional weekends) and a lot of forces now want you to pre-plan your duties, none of this rocking up at the last minute stuff.

The assessment centre isn't too bad - mine was a long time ago so things might have changed but it too was just a written test on Maths/English/Reasoning and an interview.

As suggested, http://www.policespecials.com/forum is a great place to get more info, especially on matters specifically to do with Leicestershire Constabulary.
Original post by fruit_n_veg
Also, be aware that there will be some mandatory ongoing training commitments (usually 1 evening a month/very occasional weekends)


Depends on the force. We don't have regular training except the annual OST re-cert.
I wouldn't mind joining the police force. As long as i will be handling guns.
Original post by 2_plus_X_equal_me
I wouldn't mind joining the police force. As long as i will be handling guns.


Piss off.
Reply 13
Avatar for Lu-x
Lu-x
OP
16
Original post by Jace Falco
In terms of flexibility, I'm able just to choose any time and date I like, book it, and work then. I'm assigned to one of the reg intervention teams, so it's best for me to book my duties around their schedule, but not essential. It might depend on your skipper; they might impose certain restrictions, especially on a probationer, but at the end of the day they recognise that it's your time you're giving up.

The required minimum is 16 hours per month. It's good to do a bit extra sometimes - I tend to work at least 6-8 hours a week, and during the riots in August I worked 60 hours in the month - but as long as you keep up the minimum you'll be okay.

The assessment centre varies from force to force, but yes, you will be required to do some practical activities. Mine involved two written exercises and an interview, so nothing too daunting, but some apparently require you to make a presentation. Again, the website I linked is quite helpful with that.

All I can say with regards to your family is to tell them that it's not really very dangerous, and that you're doing a good thing and helping people.


Thanks for that. By practical activities I was thinking of things like situational roleplay like they do at the assessment centre for the regulars. But I think I would be okay with written exercises and an interview, or a presentation as I do them often enough. Do you have any regrets about doing it? What is your normal work?
Reply 14
Avatar for Lu-x
Lu-x
OP
16
Original post by fruit_n_veg
...


Thanks for that :smile:

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you