British Transport Police / Police Constables

Any Police Constables in the BTP on here?
What's the application process like?
How long is the training?
How do you personally find the job/ job satisfaction?
Any Tips?
Cheers

I'm not BTP, but I did do the process. I ultimately decided not to take their offer and went to another force.
Application is similar to the other forces, but I would say more stringent and unlike Met, you do actually get properly interviewed and asked about your motivations for joining. Due to the nature of the job, they do ask you about suicide, how you'd cope with it and so on. As I understand it, this is quite important to them due to the likelihood of officers dealing with people throwing themselves in front of trains.
Training I can't say- it's probably on their site. I'm in London so would have been trained at their Holloway Road site, which I did go to for assessment. It seems a decent place, and is in close proximity to rail links for the student officers to go out on the ground.
Like I said, I don't do the BTP job. I know people who have done it - the run of the mill seems to be ASB, vagrancy, theft, assault - all those kind of things - plus a lot of role specific stuff from fare dodging at one end to suicide at the other. One thing that does seem to come up a lot is that the London role (I think they call it "B Division") is very different from the rest of the country probably due to the high density of large stations and also that they have to police the tube as well.
I ultimately didn't take the position offered to me as I wanted to be in a larger force with greater opportunities. BTP can really suit some people and in London I think you're more likely to have slightly more time and space than Met officers early on. Bear in mind that while BTP does have some specialist roles, like public order, ARVs and detectives - some traditional policing roles won't really exist in the same way - neighbourhood policing for example which is a large part of Home Office forces, won't really happen in BTP.
My tips for BTP would be - have at least one other application to another force on the go, as it's not a big force and you might not get in simply because of numbers. If you become a constable in another force and really want to do trains still - it will be very easy for you to transfer afterwards - they'll very likely snap you up. Apart from that, for interview make sure you have your own mind straight as to why you want to be there rather than another force.

Hello. I am currently going through through recruitment process to join BTP as a Student Officer. Passed the fitness test on the 16th March and now I'm waiting for the next possible intake and for vetting. Know things may be a bit different and you didn't take up the offer, but how long did it take for you to get to the point of your conditional offer becoming an official offer?
Started this whole process in December 2023 and I'm starting to get a lil restless with the waiting

Any Police Constables in the BTP on here?
What's the application process like?
How long is the training?
How do you personally find the job/ job satisfaction?
Any Tips?
Cheers

Very very long application process, I'm coming up to 2 years from applying to being vetted and still no start date.

Any Police Constables in the BTP on here?
What's the application process like?
How long is the training?
How do you personally find the job/ job satisfaction?
Any Tips?
Cheers

Hello. I am currently going through through recruitment process to join BTP as a Student Officer. Passed the fitness test on the 16th March and now I'm waiting for the next possible intake and for vetting. Know things may be a bit different and you didn't take up the offer, but how long did it take for you to get to the point of your conditional offer becoming an official offer?
Started this whole process in December 2023 and I'm starting to get a lil restless with the waiting

I passed my fitness test on the 16th of march too. We possibly ran into each other. They emailed me last month to let me know what stage I was at and if I still wanted to join... I'm still waiting for HR to get back to them with an opening. I'm C Division btw. A friend did tell me that he waited for around 2 years before he got an official offer and dates for training, however that was during Covid. I have heard that I'll be possibly waiting around until August to get the official offer, then training by October/November. (As a rough guess)-------- I should also add that I'm going in as a PCSO so I would imagine my training times would be completely different for yours. Unless they train PCSO and PC at the same time (Obviously different training and classes etc)

Hi Luke.
I'm pcso also, received at least 3 of those generic checkup emails.
I've not been given any time scale at all but I have been told my vetting only lasted 6 months and has now expired with the recruitment freeze from last year.
I have spoken to new starters from other forces and nobody has waited this long most are in within 6 -9 months.
One of my colleagues has a start date and she applied after me which is frustrating.
Please keep me posted as we have applied for the same division.
All the best
Danny

Hi Danny.
The suspense is absolutely killing me.
I know the vetting only lasts six months but if they ask you to confirm your references then that means you are close to being given a start date, or so I've been told.
I do understand that B Division tend to get their start dates quicker than any other division, however you still do your training with them...
Also are you by any chance North of Leeds for C Division?

Hi Luke,
I applied for Leeds as my first choice.
It does seem to prioritise B division from what I've read.
I've heard nothing yet my original start date was 14th August last year but my vetting was held.
Once it got cleared I'd missed my start date so I agree the wait is painful

That's a kick in the face that like
Leeds is my second choice, I'm further North
I'm worried about my vetting but everyone is telling me that I'll get in, it's just a very very long waiting game.
If anything happens I'll let you know.

That's a kick in the face that like
Leeds is my second choice, I'm further North
I'm worried about my vetting but everyone is telling me that I'll get in, it's just a very very long waiting game.
If anything happens I'll let you know.

Have you received any update to your application?
Have you done your medical assessment with the BTP yet?

Hi,
I completed all my medical, fitness and vetting August 2023.
No updates at all, to be honest they don't seem to have been recruiting PCSOs at all.
It's a full year on 14th August since I was vetted and nothing has moved forward.
All the best

Have you received any update to your application?
Have you done your medical assessment with the BTP yet?

I haven't done my medical as of yet. Still just sat here waiting lol
Plus the recent change of Government could have slowed things down... Not sure.
I did email them last week and had a very fast response, just letting me know that there is still no word and they are waiting for the a position to become available.

Sorry to hear that! At least they are aware you’re waiting for a position and I hope they get back to you soon!
I’m going through the PC route myself for B division, just hoping I won’t have to wait too long for a formal offer.

I passed my fitness test on the 16th of march too. We possibly ran into each other. They emailed me last month to let me know what stage I was at and if I still wanted to join... I'm still waiting for HR to get back to them with an opening. I'm C Division btw. A friend did tell me that he waited for around 2 years before he got an official offer and dates for training, however that was during Covid. I have heard that I'll be possibly waiting around until August to get the official offer, then training by October/November. (As a rough guess)-------- I should also add that I'm going in as a PCSO so I would imagine my training times would be completely different for yours. Unless they train PCSO and PC at the same time (Obviously different training and classes etc)