Detective Constable Met Police Grad Scheme

Original post by GeoJones94

Hey guys,

Quick bit of background about me- I completed my Audio and Music Production degree back in 2015. Since then I have had various roles relating to my degree but i've never quite felt satisfied in terms of future employment within the field as well as the general feeling of "not actually making a difference to anything". I've always been fairly interested in joining the police, even more so at the thought of being a detective as I'm really big on problem solving, psychology, research and actually helping people.

Recently I noticed the Met have created a Detective Constable pathway for graduates due a shortage of detectives. This sounds like it could be great opportunity to actually make a difference to people as well as get into something really interesting. However upon looking into this scheme, I get the impression that there is a fairly high percentage of people serving in the Police who believe that it would be beneficial to have served as a constable first before becoming a detective. I can of course understand this as a far greater understanding of policing as a whole would be obtained as well dealing with the public and criminals etc. Equally though, there is a shortage in the number of Detectives, that the Met appear eager to regrow.

Does anybody have any experience with the mentioned Detective pathway/as a detective/ in the police and has any thoughts?

Any opinions will be greatly appreciated!

Kind Regards,
George

Hey, I've just been searching the forums to see if anything like this had come up. I have considerable experience with what your referring to, 11 years in fact! I'll start with a little background information about the whole scheme.

The Police service has a significant problem with recruiting/advancing those in to the rank of Detective. This is as a result of a number of things:
- The Police has rarely recruited in the last 10 years owing to the cuts to the Public sector, thus, there are has been a dearth of new people joining who wished to be a Detective. Generally, when people join the Police they have an idea of what they want to do and set about achieving that, whether it be a Dog Handler, Firearms Officer, etc.
- The role of Detective requires you to undertake an exam, interview and complete another portfolio similar to the one in which you complete when you join the Police. All of this is for no extra money whatsoever.
- Detectives, dependent on role, commonly work longer hours than other departments (such as frontline officers) and therefore a myth has developed that Detectives are never at home and therefore have a poor work/life balance.
- Detectives carry a considerable amount of responsibility at work. Cases that go to court rest with the Officer in Case, which in cases that go to Crown Court (which are the most serious), are Detectives. The fact that you take responsibility for the investigation, the evidence presented and bear all of this along with your operational reputation, makes the role extremely demanding, given the power that the judiciary has in general.
- There has been an increase in serious crime requiring Detectives to undertake the investigation, this has lead to Detectives carrying a higher work load which becomes less attractive to other officers.
- All of the above has contributed to Detectives being in an extremely high demand.

The high demand for Detectives, widely reported in the press and amongst Police publications has lead the Police to adopt non-standard approaches in an attempt to identify and recruit people in to the rank of Detective. It first started with recruiting "Police Staff Investigators" who were to assist with investigations, with the opportunity to become an accredited "PIP2" Investigation (the national accreditation for Detectives allowing you to investigate serious crime) however Staff members were paid considerably left, therefore this did not work.

The next logical step was to offer direct entry in to the Police under the premise that you become a Detective. The process will likely be as follows:

1) Attend training school for 4 months, learn all your basic operational skills.
2) Spend 6 months on frontline policing. During this period you would be expected to become an effective constable and achieve the rank (which usually takes 2 years) and pass the National Investigators Exam. You would then be transferred to CID.
3) In CID, you will complete your PIP2 Portfolio (1 year) and then become a Detective.

It all sounds great! Here would be my comments about what you may encounter:

1) It took me 3 years to know exactly what I was doing on frontline, to be fully comfortable with all but the most rare of situations. With 6 months operational frontline experience, you may not have fully grasped the full array of work. This is not to say that you wouldn't, or couldn't, over time.
2) You will likely encounter 'old sweats' you believe that you don't deserve to be a Detective because of the way in which you have been recruited. Im not saying this is going to happen, and it shouldn't happen, I'm just saying..
3) The Police are a great organisation which offers stability and an above average pay packet. There are however lots of things that come with the package in general, including, the way people treat you, the way people look at you, how you review your own honesty and integrity, how you view your friend group, how you view your family, how you will not conduct yourself in your personal life.. It often isn't just turning up and going home. What are you going to do when your mates are off their head at the next festival you attend, how do their friends feel about you being there? I could go on..

In terms of 'making a difference', I don't believe there are many other roles out there where you truly do make such a difference. The most job satisfaction I have ever had is achieving justice for the most vulnerable and serious victims of crime. You bear that responsibility and reap the rewards when it goes your way. But you are also the punching bag, in the firing line when it doesn't, when the jury says not guilty, and there is nothing you can do about it.

I've rambled on a little bit there however, If you have any specific questions, drop me a PM, I'm more than willing to help :smile:

Reply 2

OP

Thanks a bunch for taking the time to reply in such a detailed way!
I've just sent you a message with.

Kind Regards,
George

Reply 3

what are the chances of the recruitment, for the constable detective pathway, opening again in 2018?

Reply 4

OP

Original post by jenv

what are the chances of the recruitment, for the constable detective pathway, opening again in 2018?

I recently emailed the enquiry email that is provided and they said they are currently unaware of when the pathway will re open. Based on the current shortage though, i'm hopeful that it won't be too long of a wait. I believe it first opened last May.

Reply 5

Original post by jenv

what are the chances of the recruitment, for the constable detective pathway, opening again in 2018?

Check all the forces around the country. This was initially a scheme developed by other forces that the Met have jumped on board with. Some of the... slower forces will no doubt lap this up and have their own version. There is a national shortage of Detectives (some quoted over 300 vacancies in the Met alone) so, there will be more!

Reply 6

Original post by GeoJones94

I recently emailed the enquiry email that is provided and they said they are currently unaware of when the pathway will re open. Based on the current shortage though, i'm hopeful that it won't be too long of a wait. I believe it first opened last May.

It would be good to know if it's just a matter of when. It's possible it may never open. I emailed them too..... That's pretty much what they told me. Don't like the waiting....

Reply 7

OP

Original post by jenv

It would be good to know if it's just a matter of when. It's possible it may never open. I emailed them too..... That's pretty much what they told me. Don't like the waiting....

Yeah it would be good to know if it will actually re open. Based on the shortages I imagine it will but maybe they're trying to "test the waters" with the scheme its self as it is new. Like what was mentioned above, becoming a detective previously required at least 2 years of experience policing the streets which then helps with the development of a detective, going into the detective role without any previous experience may not be particularly smooth so maybe they're looking at success rates from the first lot of recruits before re opening... All speculation on my end of course.

Reply 8

Original post by jenv

It would be good to know if it's just a matter of when. It's possible it may never open. I emailed them too..... That's pretty much what they told me. Don't like the waiting....

A quick heads up: Police Recruitment is notoriously slow. If you check any of the Policey forums (I cant remember their names now), all of them are riddled with stories of lengthy waits to join the Police. When I joined, it was all done within about 8 months however, a lot of people will pass the assessment centre and then simply be "held" until spots become available. This can be 2 years.

I have no idea why it is this way!

Reply 9

OP

With that in mind, i'm considering maybe applying to be a PC and then applying to be Detective internally in two years. Not that this will be any quicker i'm sure however at least the application process appears to be open. I emailed the enquiries inbox about this and they said If I register to be a PC with a different email, I can still be notified on my original account if the Detective pathway re opens and can then decide on which I wish to purse.

Any advice/ thoughts on this?

Reply 10

Original post by GeoJones94

With that in mind, i'm considering maybe applying to be a PC and then applying to be Detective internally in two years. Not that this will be any quicker i'm sure however at least the application process appears to be open. I emailed the enquiries inbox about this and they said If I register to be a PC with a different email, I can still be notified on my original account if the Detective pathway re opens and can then decide on which I wish to purse.

Any advice/ thoughts on this?

Seems like a good choice. Theres a lot to be said about working on the frontline. It'll give you a good grounding and you'll get yourself in to some right pickles!

Once you have identified a force to apply for, my best advice (and of course i'm happy to be more specific via PM) is that you MUST prepare. Our force, whenever I see the new recruits, 95% of them were already working internally in a different role. This isn't because the force only recruits from internal candidates, its just they have the knowledge and experience to understand the values of the force and how they are implemented. This translates in to a much much stronger application/assessment/interview so... you must work extremely hard as a complete outside to compete!

Give me a shout if you need anything further.

Reply 11

Agata

19

Original post by GeoJones94

With that in mind, i'm considering maybe applying to be a PC and then applying to be Detective internally in two years. Not that this will be any quicker i'm sure however at least the application process appears to be open. I emailed the enquiries inbox about this and they said If I register to be a PC with a different email, I can still be notified on my original account if the Detective pathway re opens and can then decide on which I wish to purse.

Any advice/ thoughts on this?

Hey, have you noticed that DC entry has opened? Also, I thought that you are not allowed to apply to two application at the same time? I’m in the process of PC application but really want to apply to DC.. I just don’t want to lose my progress with PC incase I don’t get DC and have to wait 6 months to reapply..

Reply 12

OP

Original post by Agata

Hey, have you noticed that DC entry has opened? Also, I thought that you are not allowed to apply to two application at the same time? I’m in the process of PC application but really want to apply to DC.. I just don’t want to lose my progress with PC incase I don’t get DC and have to wait 6 months to reapply..

Hey thanks for the heads up, I hadn't actually realised but start my application. When I emailed the enquiries inbox for the police recruitment, I said that I was interested in the detective pathway but would be interested in applying to be a PC because I don't know how long i'll have to wait and they said that I could apply with a different email address for the PC role as this wouldn't affect my detective application should it open so maybe try a new email address?

Reply 13

Hi Agatha, I checked and the pathway hasnt opened. The ad close date does say 31 march 2018. But applications closed a while ago.

All you can do is submit an interest at this stage.

The police constable one seems to be ongoing till the end of the year.
QUOTE=Agata;76310594]Hey, have you noticed that DC entry has opened? Also, I thought that you are not allowed to apply to two application at the same time? I’m in the process of PC application but really want to apply to DC.. I just don’t want to lose my progress with PC incase I don’t get DC and have to wait 6 months to reapply..

Reply 14

OP

Oh yeah it hasn't, thought it was weird that I didn't receive any notification when i've put my email down for it. As for the closing date for the application, before Jan 1st 2018 the closing date was Dec 31st 2017 and at the start of January the date moved to the end of March so I don't know if the date will change again. Hopefully it'll open at the start of March and will actually close when the website says...

Reply 15

Agata

19

Really? That's really strange.. Sorry for misleading then!

It lets me fill out an application when I log in which is really strange. As for the different e-mail address, will we not get in trouble then? Because one of the questions is whether or not we have applied for the MET at any stage earlier, would you just put 'no'?

Reply 16

OP

No worries at all!
Yeah I filled out the start of the application as well but I think they make you do the first stage to make sure you're eligible. In regards to your question about the section that asks if you've already applied, i'd suggest emailing their enquiry email as I don't want to advise you incorrectly and risk anything on your application. For reference, the full email response to my questions was: "If you wish to apply for a Police Constable, then you can apply but using a different email address, this way you can go through the PC application process, but also keeping the Expression of Interest open for the Detective Constable".

Reply 17

Rgray7879

2

I’ve also been emailing them about when the DC pathway will open - back in novemeber they told me they’d be opening it soon but couldn’t give an accurate date. They also said I could apply as a PC in the meantime. Or if you wait for the DC pathway to open, and for some reason didn’t pass the additional testing for the detective role, they’d put your application forward for PC without having to go through the process again. Hopefully it’ll be open soon!

Reply 18

OP

It's positive to know that if for whatever reason you don't make it to the detective role that it isn't the end of the line for you then. It really is a mystery as to when it's actually going to reopen though lol

Reply 19