Does anyone work in the emergency services?

[Pinkyandthebrainz]

Who can give me an honest answer about what that sort of job is like? Do you enjoy it, would you recommend it etc.

I'm considering a career change to policing, previously a secondary teacher followed by 13y as a SAHM. Im 43. No idea if I'll be successful, but in the application process for one force (and pulled out the at interview stage for another force, due to my own imposter syndrome "I'm not good enough" demons). But as mentioned upthread- I feel already that policing is right for me.

Anyway, I have questions. Many questions, but here's one:

" You will get assulted"

How is this likely to be approached in the application / interview process? What are they looking for? See, I have never been physically threatened before. I've faced many an aggressive teenager and can effectively de-esculate. But how would I feel about being physically harmed? Honestly - (very) frightened. I'd feel scared. Does that make me unsuitable?

I'm sure I could learn harden myself to it in time, but I'm not hardened to it now. Should I downplay how scared I'd be, if asked in interview?

Another question on this subject - are police officers expected to deal with this violence alone? I'd feel more reassured in pairs or in knowing I was in some way protected. The idea of putting myself at risk is a barrier for me here. But I acknowledge that risk is there to be managed, not eliminated.

FATE Those are excellent questions with no easy answers.

Being double crewed made no difference to me being assaulted, there is usually so much going on that it happens, despite there being at least two of you.

But assaults are inevitable.

I can’t answer as to what recruitment is looking for but they aren’t expecting martial arts experts and frankly, communication is one of the key things that can get you out of a situation. Being able to talk.

Fear is a human emotion. But being in the police generally means you run toward the incident and ignore that instinct to run away.

Only tonight I have read that a CID officer has been deliberately run over in Glasgow. I’m quite blasé as I’m a Cid officer but I need to get myself out of that mindset. It’s getting worse for us.

Ex officer (didnt quite finish my 2 years) and now in the control room. Theres 2 others on my team that sacked the job in too and changed to the control room

I'd suggest being a special or control room for at least a year and then make your mind up

Would you consider a civilian role to better understand policing? I wanted to join the police when I left school so worked in a number of staff roles. All frontline jobs to get a real understanding of policing in a safe(ish) environment. And most importantly your shift finishes on time!!
Policing is bloody hard work the saying "the jobs fucked" and "damned if you do damned if you don't" are so true. There's very little support for police from both in and out of the job and everyone gets tarred with the same brush. It's not a career I'd particularly recommend to anyone. I'm still a civvi but now married to an officer, he regularly is on shift for 18-20+hours, and unfortunately most of the time I have no contact in that time. Days off and holidays are cancelled at the drop of a hat. Sometimes I don't see him for days, and the things he's seen/dealt with have occasionally shook him to the core.

Is "control room" the police call handlers? There is a police call handler recruitment drive also active atm, I've considered that too. It just feels a bit second best when what I want to do is be a police officer.

In my force the control room is call handlers and dispatchers. The call handler side Is an excellent pace to understand what people phone the police about (generally a lot of rubbish!)
The dispatcher role is sending the officers to jobs (not just that but it's the main task) and gives a massive understanding to police officer role. Both are massively beneficial to someone wanting to join the police.

Alot of people join the CR as a foot in the door as they often do staff recruitment and helps with the application and a very small number actually continue on to apply for PC, 3 months in and you realise what the job is. Im paid alot more than i was as an officer, im warm, im safe, i can eat/drink when i like, I get to see my kids, overtime isnt forced or unpaid, and my rest days are my own and im not drowning in an unmanageable work load. I got PTSD in my 1st year dealing with a suicide and i had to cradle the children on my lap, who were the same age as my own and try my hardest not to sob while i asked someone to get them a biscuit and a drink while i put cbeebies on for them. Thats only the tip of the iceberg, it can be so much worse.

@FATEdestiny every officer has a different experience. I am rather rural and am lucky to say I have never been assaulted in any serious way. I have been pushed and had a little struggle on the ground but nothing serious. However, there a several reasons for this. 1) I've been lucky. Very lucky.
2) I'm female. Controversial I know but even the nastiest of blokes will often say 'I'd never hit a woman' and I take full advantage of that idiotic belief that this makes them a good person. 3) I am a good talker. I am now a trained negotiator and consider talking (well actually listening) to be my number one arsenal. 4) I work rurally meaning we simply don't have the same level of gang violence. 5) I left uniform to work CID after 5 years in uniform. The less time in uniform the less assaults you are exposed to 6) I am cautious. I run checks before dealing with people. I watch for signs of aggression. I call for backup earlier as I recognise I'm not a fighter. I give them space and I don't sacrifice my and my colleagues safety for anything. Our first rule is preserve life. And that starts with mine. And my colleagues. Then everyone else.

Even with all of that, assaults happen way too frequently and are getting more and more prolific as the public mood changes. There genuinely is no respect for the law from certain elements of society today and it terrifies me.

@tired we have had Athena for several years now and I am, believe it or not, a champion! I actually find it ok to use but I absolutely HATE certain little things. I mean, who designs a document storage facility where thou can reorder documents but doesn't allow the screen to move up and down as you move them? I want to see where I'm putting my MG11!! And why can't I reorder the docs in alphabetical order? It's bloody ridiculous! Check a box here, Rick a thing here. Complete a bit here. Submit to CMS? Error every time. Lol. Love it. Can't wait for the 'upgrade'!!

@coffeepleb if you know you know!!

@nicknacky I think police Scotland have a lot of amazing differences. Double crewing for a start! It's only standard for us on night shifts. Other than that you're in your own!

Ours is the same as @shouldhavecalleditoatabix - we double crew on nights only. Single crewed on earlies and lates.

Police scotland don’t always double crew. My BIL has very often been left to deal with situations alone regardless of policy. Snp fucked them with joining all the forces too. He’s been assaulted quite a few times. Back of van most recently and the young probationer couldn’t help at all. So he was double crew on that shift but basically alone still. The public would
be shocked at how little police are on service in a massive area at one time here. It’s certainly not like on tv when they call for backup and van loads of extra cops roll up. Here he’s alone for too long.

Communication is key too - lot of the job seems to be talking people down to avoid the violence. Keeping calm regardless. BIL dad and uncles and various other members of the family were all in service. He can’t wait to leave. It’s not what it was. This is mainly due to lack of govt support/funding and lack of respect from public (fuelled by media reporting). It’s not like before when police were respected.

Another one adding that the control room is an excellent place to gain experience in a safer and more controlled environment. I've listened to grim situations, either as a call handler or on the radio, but I've not had to physically be there.

I'm a dispatcher which is (IMO) the best job and as a PP states, gives you a massive insight into the role of a police officer. Currently our force has a two year tenure in place where you cannot even apply for another post within force- something to keep an eye out for. It doesn't sound long but I know it's immensely frustrating for colleagues (myself included once) when a perfect sounding job comes up and you are barred from applying. You also have access to a wider range of internal jobs.

I know several colleagues who have made the jump to be officers / PCSO's, mostly successfully. It's a route I would have taken myself if I were younger, now it feels like I'm past the stage where I'm happy to accept that being assaulted is inevitable.

I also get the opportunity (pre-Covid) to shadow different departments, if I'm happy to arrange it myself and carry it out on my day off (again these shifts used to be paid, budget cuts mean this is no longer the case)

I wanted to go into a Police role after hating my Office job but I moved to London and I find that I wouldn't be able to cope in the force to work and tackle crimes in London. London is brutal. I come from a small coastal town and the only trouble you have is either domestic issues or drunk/drug abuse crimes which is nothing compared to London. If I never moved to the city, I would have applied ages ago. I love the police uniform and what it represents. I love all the officers and feel safe around them and have huge respect to them. It's a shame that not everybody feels like that.

Ambo here In your position I'd apply for control room call handler vacancies first and get a feel for the kind of jobs that come in.
Daily abuse is pretty standard but then we get to deliver babies and save lives and meet some really lovely and brave people so it does balance over all

Police officer, currently on a specialist investigation unit.

Like a PP said, I would never go back to uniform, ever. Didn't really enjoy working all the hours they could cram into my rota, never seeing my friends or family, sleeping in the back of a car and yes, being assaulted and filmed on a regular basis with very little support from senior management.

I couldn't imagine myself doing another job, but wouldn't want to see others have a terrible time. TJF.

PC here. I was control room originally and as others have said, highly recommend that first. I went into the job with VERY healthy expectations.

I’m front line and I love it. However, what I’ve said to other people who ask the question - don’t do it unless you REALLY want to do it. I’m very lucky in my team; they are incredibly supportive and my bosses couldn’t do more to look after us which does boost the morale
A LOT. However, there are frankly crap elements to the job - scene watches for hours in the freezing cold with no one to talk to, getting off hours late, being assaulted, being villanised by the people you are trying to protect.

I joined control room after I originally failed the medical. To begin with I had serious doubts about joining as a PC but eventually realised how disappointed I would be if I retired and never had a chance to drive on blue lights. Honestly, the thought gutted me. If you feel any less strongly about it, I wouldn’t join. It suits me to the ground and I love it but it is a tough old job.

scene watches for hours in the freezing cold with no one to talk to

@Foreverlexicon I remember being on a crime scene in the middle of summer in a courtyard with no shade, which someone had thrown cat food all over which was covered in maggots, and about 3 million cats with fleas. I came off that scene burnt and bitten to shit!

EndFendMend Police Scotland will only send out single crewed officers where is simply odd numbers on shift. If nothing else, we don’t have the cars to send out single crewed officers routinely! And corroboration is required in Scotland which requires double crews.

Have you considered other enforcement roles? Have you already been to university? There are other interesting and exciting roles that are well paid with less risk.

I think the police have rather taken over the thread... sorry. I’m London based and have just watched some Body cam footage of some of the disorder that we faced this summer - chilling stuff. I wish the public got to see more of that kind of footage. In defence of London policing I would say that help is usually not far away because we have larger numbers of officers ( not enough I know) rather than rural areas where they can be miles away. I’ve worked on some boroughs that have more officers than some county forces. We have specialist units that I guess probably don’t exist outside of here to the same extent like the Anti Terrorist branch and Royalty protection. And since I’m trying to be positive - I work part-time and have moved into positions as a part timer. I do a flexible working pattern which reduces to 3 days during the school holidays. I get paid for all the hours I work - I personally get the overtime that I want ( although I don’t want much). My husband will be retiring at 55. I can retire at the same time but joined later so could leave with a three quarters pension. I’m in a big gang that will look after me even if they don’t know me personally. People will run fast to get to me if I call for help and I would do the same for them. It’s a club - kind of.

Oh and you can join directly as a detective now ( although I don’t think it’s a good idea)

@Divebar could you please tell us more why the detective role isn't a good idea? I've been interested in the role and waiting for a position to open up in the Met. I would love to know more about it.

My force don’t have direct entry, thank god.

I’m am and no way should someone be able to walk straight into a specialist role without having the basics of policing already instilled in him.

Detective work isn’t like the TV.