Police detective job- anyone got any advice?

[Solace123]

The fast track pathway to become a DC has opened up in my county. I watched their webinar last night but it was more about the recruitment process.
I want to know more about the job day to day. Can anyone give any advice about the job or know someone who does the job?
What is it like daily? What are the shift patterns like? Are the police good with parent caring responsibilities? Do they offer any flexibility on shifts if you have kids.
In the programme you also have to do 18 weeks independent patrol. I'd feel nervous about it. Im only a small woman, am I expected to wrestle fully grown men double my size to arrest them if they resist?
It looks like an interesting role. I currently work in child safeguarding so have some background in one of the policing areas that I could be a part of.
I think it's best to hear from people who work in the job though to get a better feel.

I did wonder this about WFH

The force i would apply for is a rural area so although not impossible I cant forsee large city riots or big things happening here regularly

In most roles no, in some roles, yes on occasion still probably not as the norm. In my force it is never agreed as part of a flexible working pattern or to be used as a childcare option. As a new joiner, I would neither ask for or expect it, count it out if you are relying on it to help you.

My daughter has this week received an email from the Met despite being in their system for 18 months saying they have been told to recruit less officers and therefore will be returning her vetting and letting her know when they reopen for applications in 2026. Goodluck!!!!

As a police officer it’s unlikely to have a role WFH although some forces do have dedicated roles particularly for those who have a disability or short term restrictions. Full time operational DC might be able to do so on rare occasions but certainly in our force there is a policy for hybrid working and it wouldn’t be accepted.

No. I was a detective for 25 years and it’s really difficult when you have children and caring responsibilities. It’s not a a case of doing an 8 hour, 10 hour shift or whatever you’re rostered to do. If you need to stay on you need to stay on. I have twice done 24 hour shifts in my 30 years in the force. You can’t tell a rape victim that you can’t finish her statement because you need to pick up your kids. If there’s a serious incident such as a murder or assault and you’re needed to take statements, find witnesses you can’t just swan off because nursery is closing at 6. It’s not like a normal job with standard employment laws. A lot of employment law doesn’t apply to the Police because they’re not employees with employee rights. They’re servants of the crown and if you’re ordered to stay on that’s what you do otherwise you will be subject to disciplinary proceeds.

Ex-job here, 30 years service and now very happily retired.

You won't be given any allowances because you have children. Policing is a 24hr job and if you're dealing with a job that still requires a few hours more work when it comes to the end of your shift, you will just have to get on and finish it.

You can't expect your colleagues to pick up your work because you need to go home to your kids. Policing is all about team-work, we help each other out as much as we can but everyone is under an enormous amount of pressure. The workload is huge and it's extremely stressful.

Sorry if this is not what you want to hear, but it's a very difficult job that requires dedication and commitment from all.

So interesting to hear different experiences.

I'm a DC in a SE force, have nearly 19 years in and am a transferee so have worked across other forces.

In my experience having part/time or flexible childcare arrangements massively depends on your role, first, and then line manager.

After I had my first DC I went back to work PT on response only 2 days a week, that was great for me but probably not good for the job. But they accepted it as I could still be late off on those two days, and I was experienced (and a hard worker).
I then moved to safeguarding and continued my 2 shifts a week. It wasn't popular by the rotas I worked with, but it suited me and it was accepted. I was still useful to the teams so it worked.
I've only once in 10 years known a Flexi response officer. (She used to work permanent nights and had to finish at 6am to get home to sort the kids out 🫣)

I then worked in DA for a few years, increased my hours to 3 days a week (to answer previous question @Solace123 it's not a popular role because it's fucking intense - you have prisoners every day, can't progress your investigations, and the poor ppl we deal with often have cyclical, toxic lives and we see them time and time again so it's really dispiriting to spend 23 hours on a remand, and next week she's withdrawn, you're still progressing it without her but then after a month they're back together and she's getting beaten up again; the risk level is high; little support from other agencies, and there's seemingly no recognition from SMT how hard you work for generally poor results. The people who do work there are either 1) super passionate and want to be there 2) there against their will because there's a short fall and they're back filling from response or 3) want to be detectives and this is an excellent starting point for the role.)
So, in DA we got off late more than on time, multiple weekly late/overnight/remand cases.

I think you'd be much more likely to have a pattern accepted where you say I would like to work normal shifts (including being late off if necessary) Weds-Fri or Tues-Sat (whatever suits you) than 'every day but only 9.30-17.00' as you just can't stick to those hours. It really leaves ppl in the lurch when you say 'I have to go now I can't so that remand/court/sudden death/case file'.

That said I don't think you'd be able to start out on a Flexi or PT pattern? Something to ask.
Have you got a HR email or recruitment dept you can ask?

Both my current CID line managers are mums, one a single mum, and our DI is a father of two and everyone just 'gets it'. Family is seen as sacrosanct and so if you NEED a day off they'll move heaven and earth to get you off, we often get shift swaps and even OT authorised to cover AL requests.
There are operational exigencies and if you have cancelled RDs and can't get cover, or court days (I don't work Mondays and they ALWAYS seem to be on Mondays, and seemingly just pick my fucking rest days...) then you do just have to rearrange things.

I am Part Time but when I'm in, I'm in and I don't mind if I'm late (started at 7 this am and finished after 7 this eve, finished late yesterday too, and twice last set!)

I work one every three weekends and a mix or E and L. I only have to do 6 Nights a year (did 10 years in uniform so this is a dream!!).

I can only do this because I have a really supportive DH, and nearby/helpful parents, I don't know how it'd work if I was single.

Having said all that, I really love my job, every post I have seems better than the last (I am naturally optimistic!) and having spent so long in uniform just makes this side of Policing a doddle!!
We are helping a very vulnerable portion of society (victims and suspects).
I never leave work and wish I didn't do my job. I have a sense of pride, or contentment about knowing I'm doing my best for some very horrible and/or poorly people.

Thank you, that's really insightful. I think i may wait until DS is older. My only worry then is in older. I know there is no upper age limit but I still worry

Age isn’t a barrier especially for direct entry detectives, I am assessing officers aged from 22 to 45

If you had asked 2 years ago I would have said policing was probably worth it my husband has been in for 20 year plus. Now I would say a huge no. The Met have forgotten that a lot of there service is run on good will of those good officers still remaining. My husband is never fully off duty he will deal with calls and messages from his and other teams on al and days off because he wants to make a difference and improve things. He has worked hard to take on specialist roles such as riot training, advance driving, fire arms etc for which there is no extra pay and increases your risk of having your days off cancelled to cover AID. The newest kick in the teeth is that because front line policing is so hard and such a mess the SLT has decided that all specialist officers who have worked hard to do improve and learn specialist roles ( which ca n give better shifts)will have to rotate back to front line policing after 10 years. This means that you are going to have less experienced officers in the harder specialist roles and specialist officer blocked from moving to another specialist roles. You also have pissed off experienced officers who have had thousands spent on training (such as firearms) which will go to waste as they have to be in a armed roll and re accredit to every 3 months to keep that skill.on their cards. There is also the issue of selection for these roles as there is not a pot of trained officer waiting to take them.
My husband was planning on not retiring at his first retirement point as he loved this job but this has meant he will now retire just before his enforced.move in 2 years.
Out of his team 11 are all planning to do the same and 5 are already planning to leave policing altogether .

In my force they would snap your hand off if you wanted to work in safeguarding as it is chronically under resourced and difficult to attract staff into.

I was going to say this - my DC mate says women in her force tend to get stuck with the child protection and safeguarding roles as no one wants to do it so the fact that you're already in that field likely means it's the policing area you 'will' not 'could' be part of. So I guess weigh up whether you're better off sticking where you are for now at least, if the conditions suit your childcare needs better, and then make the switch when there's less pressure on your schedule. If you still want to do it, then the door would still be open.

@Givenupghost

My husband is never fully off duty he will deal with calls and messages from his and other teams on al and days off because he wants to make a difference and improve things

very very normal in senior positions in private sector

I have known quite a lot of police officers and what I have noticed is that childcare only seems to work if one partner takes primary responsibility or they work as a team. My good friend was a sergeant, as was his ex wife. They were good at helping each other out with childcare because they understood the nature of the job. I think if you don’t have someone who could scoop your dc up if something comes up, it’s not going to work.

DH is ex-police, although he joined as PC in response & worked his way up.

They are aresholes for flexibility & child care. The job always comes first. Enforced overtime without warning, cancelled leave during London riots (we had holiday booked). If the job needs you then you have to stay. 30mins for the king & all that (unpaid) . 2 early, 2 late , 2 nights, 4 rest days & repeat - zero flexibility. Any sickness or absence puts pressure on the team so individuals feel pressured into putting their team first

Don't know about detective entry. The shifts may be less brutal than for response officers but would have thought the pressures are higher & flexibility lower.

I wouldn't go into it unless you have a really good child care plan plus back up plan eg a partner with flexibility or WFH. It's a really rewarding career but you will find the job comes first & family second at times.

Exactly senior private who likely get paid.more than a police sergeant! Also not being assaulted (3 × in the last 4 months) on a regular basis and seeing the worst of things, but he did the role because he wanted to help not for the pay. The point is it not an attractive jobs and so good will is required and taken advantage of and assumed.

Just curious but what would happen if you refused to stay over the hours you were suppose to work? Is it just frowned upon and the team would be annoyed or would you lose your job? Surely you cant lose your job for saying no to just working your hours?

My jnderstanding is as a police officer you take office and so are not employed in the same way as other services such as the nhs. That means enforced working days and hours. Your rest days can be cancelled at a moments notice (it was touch and go whether our wedding could go ahead because of a court case my husband was going to have to be a witness at), whether you have holiday booked or not. A lot of sergeant/inspectors care greatly about their teams and will try to protect them them when they can from shift changes etc. But ultimately if you are told from the SLT to work you have to be in. Unlike other services you also have no right to strike to improve working conditions (not that he would strike nor would most of the officer he works with)
My husband loved his job for years and found it tremendously rewarding, but I had to make sacrifices to my career (nhs)to support his , I was always the go to when having to collect kids if ill, take time off and be part time. This was a discussion we had before we even had kids so it wasn't him being an ass about it. His current specialist role is more flexible which has allowed him to be more present with the kids which he has loved. If your children are little it will be hard if you are on your own, if you have good support then doable.x

It is a discipline offence if you refuse to obey a lawful order and also potentially against code of ethics. Would need to check which one since retired most stuff like that is consigned to the non important in my brain!
it would have to be shown that the order was lawful though.
as a one off you would be accommodated but if it was a regular thing that you refused to stay on with a prisoner, there would likely be consequences.
If you have an agreed shift pattern for FW or PT it’s adhered to as much as possible, unless extingencies of service are thrown in.
as already been pointed out police officers can’t strike although they have a federation rather than a union who should stand up for reasonable and family friendly rights

You are a servant of the crown not an employee so a lot of employment law doesn't apply to you.
If is a Lawful order to stay on and you don't, expect a disciplinary and potentially loosing your job.

All of the below responses are correct re lawful orders etc, they can make you stay on duty. However, major incident aside, if one of my team approached me and said, I absolutely cannot stay on today for x reason, please can you ensure I finish on time then I would do my absolute best to help them. There is a lot of doom and gloom on here but many many police officers are parents and there is room for give and take.

It’s more difficult if you’re starting out and making demands without having a reputation and working relationships already established.

Wow I didnt know there was a difference between the other public sectors

Over time is part of the contract. The half hour either side of your shift is 'for the king' & unpaid.

Unexpected overtime is part of the job. If you were involved in an emergency or called to an incident 10mins before you were due to finish you would be obliged to stay. You wouldn't make it through probationary if you refused.

Despite what the public thinks the demands placed on officers & the standards of public service are far higher than any civilian.

It's more akin to armed forces service than to civilian employment.

I have been contacted outside of hours ever since junior manager at a private company on £24000 a year.

What is a sergeant with 20 years experience on @Givenupghost ?

You are completely misunderstanding the difference.

In the police it's not about 'being contacted out of hours' that's normal in a lot of roles & something you should be discussing with your line manager as an employee.

The commitment in the police is on a whole different level. They are not 'employees' & are more like armed forces. It means enforced overtime, having to stay on unpaid, rest days (day off) cancelled with no choice, leave cancelled with no choice, being sent out of area & staying away from home with no notice (as is happening in Essex right now).

As an employee you can negotiate & have employment rights that police officers don't have.

Trust me your job is a world away from a police officer.