Wanting to become a police officer with no A Levels

I have had a career change after completing Level 2 carpentry at college and I want to become a police officer and eventually progress into a detective constable in the future.
I am currently doing 2 A levels online with an online college which will get me 80 ucas points if I get two B's minimum, 80 ucas points is required for the PCDA apprenticeship I want to do, Does anyone have any idea how likely they are to accept me with the minimum ucas points? My brother is a police officer for the same force I'm looking to join and I would do some volunteer work in the two years before I apply if that would help me? my brother was initially declined from the PCDA after achieving 160 ucas points because he didn't have enough "life experience". Is the path I'm taking not a good one or does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

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Original post by JEFFJEFF123

It depends on which force you are looking at, but a lot of them have seen the error of their ways and have re-instituted "old" entry routes (by which we mean pre-2021).

There should be a "PCEP" entry route available to you which usually requires either 3 A levels, 1 years relevant work experience or some time served as a PCSO or a Special.

My strong advice would be to not do the PCDA. It is a difficult pathway with no obvious benefits other than the degree, which doesn't really have much in the way of application other than to say you have a degree. It also extends your time as a probationer and has you in and out of team going back and forth to university which is disruptive and if you aren't the greatest student in the world will end up just boring you.

My advice would be to take a couple of years and find a stable job in a public facing role - possibly in a bank, retail or security, and apply to be a special as soon as possible. There should then be no reason why you can't get in on a standard PCEP route.

The detective thing I wouldn't worry about. Once you are in, unless you are in a very small force, it should generally be a matter of having a few years experience and you can take the detective exam (NIE) whenever you like. They can't stop you, and if you have a pass, it would be very hard for them to stop you moving on to that role. In truth, the likelihood is that they will be dramatically short of detectives and will want you to move.