British Transport Police PC Recruitment

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It could be several things. It could be that they don't have any money and are waiting for more funding before they put training classes through. Alternitavely, they might be triaging recruits based on their scores, and are putting the highest scorers in first.
Or - they just might have terrible administration - although that wouldn't really explain why C Div (all of England except the SE) would seem to have longer waits.

Joining the police has always been a long process, and 12-18 months from first application has been not unusual for years if not decades. Anything above that, I think is unreasonable. If you are hearing stories of regular 2 year waits, I would strongly advise applying to another force. If you are incredibly committed to policing train stations, you can always transfer and no doubt BTP will accept a transferee much quicker than that. I would also add that in C Div, outside the large main stations like Leeds, New Street, Piccadilly - almost any call at a train station is going to be dealt initially dealt with by local constabulary officers and not by the BTP, who would in most cases have almost no hope of attending in time.

Reply 3

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Original post by Jejxbah

Anyone on here going through/already been through the process of joining BTP as a PC? Applied in June last year, held conditional offer since August last year, and I haven’t had anything from the recruitment team besides a generic ‘we are working to get you started as soon as possible’ email. C Division as well if it helps.

The process is ridiculously long for some, one of my colleagues applied 10 months after me for same division and she's in training.

recruitment claim that until positions become available they can't put us on an intake.

Reply 4

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Original post by Jejxbah

Anyone on here going through/already been through the process of joining BTP as a PC? Applied in June last year, held conditional offer since August last year, and I haven’t had anything from the recruitment team besides a generic ‘we are working to get you started as soon as possible’ email. C Division as well if it helps.

Hi I’m the same I passed bleep test and ha dswabs on Dec 9th 2023 and nothing yet!Ive emailed them and you just get that they are waiting until told.

Reply 5

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Original post by Gaz moz

Hi I’m the same I passed bleep test and ha dswabs on Dec 9th 2023 and nothing yet!Ive emailed them and you just get that they are waiting until told.

You guys must really love trains to wait this long.

Reply 6

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Original post by Trinculo

You guys must really love trains to wait this long.

I do fancy the BTP police but it’s not knowing when.If they said it’s a year away ,you’d know.But you get no communication at all.Cheers.

Reply 7

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Original post by Gaz moz

I do fancy the BTP police but it’s not knowing when.If they said it’s a year away ,you’d know.But you get no communication at all.Cheers.

Sure, but my thing would be - if you are having people waiting 2 years to get in to BTP - then why not just join another force and then transfer once you're out of probation? A transfer is usually very quick and you'd have two years worth of pay rises which is Even if it takes you a year to get into another force, you've gained a year and you'd have certainty. You'd also be in a strong bargaining position as a transferee, probably being able to have a lot more say over where you want to go and when. An experienced officer is worth a lot more to them than a trainee who might not even complete training (and they have to pay for).

(edited 9 months ago)

Reply 8

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Original post by Trinculo

Sure, but my thing would be - if you are having people waiting 2 years to get in to BTP - then why not just join another force and then transfer once you're out of probation? A transfer is usually very quick and you'd have two years worth of pay rises which is Even if it takes you a year to get into another force, you've gained a year and you'd have certainty. You'd also be in a strong bargaining position as a transferee, probably being able to have a lot more say over where you want to go and when. An experienced officer is worth a lot more to them than a trainee who might not even complete training (and they have to pay for).

I agree and transferees will take priority at recruitment time so that's a good way go.

I personally didn't want to join another force and have put myself at a disadvantage waiting for BTP.

Even the officers that I speak to agree the process is the unnecessarily slow but that's how its always been.

Reply 9

Jejxbah

OP

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Anyone on here heard anything yet? Starting to get fed up of the waiting likely gonna apply to a HO force.

Reply 10

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Original post by Trinculo

Sure, but my thing would be - if you are having people waiting 2 years to get in to BTP - then why not just join another force and then transfer once you're out of probation? A transfer is usually very quick and you'd have two years worth of pay rises which is Even if it takes you a year to get into another force, you've gained a year and you'd have certainty. You'd also be in a strong bargaining position as a transferee, probably being able to have a lot more say over where you want to go and when. An experienced officer is worth a lot more to them than a trainee who might not even complete training (and they have to pay for).

Thanks.Ihave thought about rejoining the Met and made the enquiry.However ,although your interview tests stand for two years ,you have to do everything else again!And I would need a section House place in London.I don’t know how long you have to do before putting in a transfer.And previously ,even on transferring you had to go through all the process again!Many thanks ,kind regards Gareth .

Reply 11

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Original post by Jejxbah

Anyone on here heard anything yet? Starting to get fed up of the waiting likely gonna apply to a HO force.

Heard nothing j.All the best, cheers.

Reply 12

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Original post by Jejxbah

Anyone on here going through/already been through the process of joining BTP as a PC? Applied in June last year, held conditional offer since August last year, and I haven’t had anything from the recruitment team besides a generic ‘we are working to get you started as soon as possible’ email. C Division as well if it helps.

That's all I've had.
I can't see anything happening this year now.

Reply 13

LeoKud28

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Original post by Jejxbah

Anyone on here heard anything yet? Starting to get fed up of the waiting likely gonna apply to a HO force.

Applying for lancashire constabulary when they start hiring again. Definitely fed up at this point and feels like time and money wasted, going through the application process

(edited 7 months ago)

Reply 14

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Original post by LeoKud28

Applying for lancashire constabulary when they start hiring again. Definitely fed up at this point and feels like time and money wasted, going through the application process

All the best Leo,cheers.

Reply 15

LeoKud28

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Hello

Anyone else on here, having issues login in to the British Transport Police online portal?

Reply 16

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Original post by LeoKud28

Hello
Anyone else on here, having issues login in to the British Transport Police online portal?

System is down for updating I've just tried ro get on myself.

Noticed that all week they have had no vacancies at all.

Reply 17

Jejxbah

OP

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Original post by LeoKud28

Hello
Anyone else on here, having issues login in to the British Transport Police online portal?

Think they have moved away from using tal.net to a new system.

Reply 18

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There is a FOI request that you guys should see.

Someone asked (for 2023) "1. How many people have received a conditional offer and are awaiting a start date/posting?
2. How long have successful applicants been waiting for a training intake? "

The answers were:
Total waiting =144

B Div
<6 months= 24
<12 months = 5
<18 months = 0
<24 months = 1

C Div
<6 months= 59
<12 months = 12
<18 months = 2
<24 months = 25

D Div
<6 months= 0
<12 months = 1
<18 months = 0
<24 months = 0

Reply 19