the other bobbies on here have explained it all, but the recruitment and training is much the same now, as it the nvq 3 & 4, just that the training is no longer residential.
i did 2 years as a special.
i then applied to a neighbouring force, and it took me a further 2 years to pass the several rounds of tests throughout the recruitment process.
i then did 17 weeks of daily classroom based training on law and legislation, policy and process, intensive personal safety training (which at the end of the day, consists of you, a can of pepper spray and a big iron bar....not much protection really against much of what we face daily these days) and fitness testing - i just did mine again 2 weeks ago.
this is also topped up with 2 2 week stints back in training at 6 monthly intervals
a driving course
and regular training every 10 weeks for which we give up one of our precious days off.
do people really really think that the police are worth so little, that they are all thick knuckle draggers without an o level between us?
add to that the stress of the job, the extra weight of the equipment you carry which causes all kinds of back and neck problems, and the strains of a varying shift system, including nights, i work 6 days on the trot, for between 56 and 58 hours without overtime.
i believe that the shifts, and the stress, do shorten life expectancy of most serving officers.
I am sorry your day was stressful taken, but we deal with death probably just as often, and then have to move to the next job, within hours, our job always carries an element of the unknown, but quiet shifts are a rarity due to numbers of front line officers dwindling, when i tell people im a pc, most dont actually believe that im frontline, they cannot comprehend some of the things i have dealt with. It is the type of job you simply cannot explain to anyone, ever, not even my DH understands fully what i do. The other officers who have posted on this thread have been way more eloquent than i, but i honestly wouldnt know where to begin. Even being a special bore no resemblance to the job of front line response officer that i do now.
It really really upsets me still when people just see us as some unanimous mass, because we are human, individuals, im not some tool of the state, im just me, who joined in her naivety, because i wanted to help people. I work so so hard for my salary which on commencement of service was £22,680. Yes there are incremental pay advances, but experience is worth paying for, and the increments cease at 10 years, and of course, dear old mr winsor has also frozen incremental pay increases for 2 years, and then asked for a 1% increase on years 3 and 4.
i have not been a pc for long really, im still in probation (which in this job is 2 years!) so before i did this i did all kinds of shitly paid work, from garage attendant to 10 years as an optical assistant. Police dont just exist in some bubble where nothing touches them.
why are we not trying to be more understanding of all difficult to do jobs? i couldnt nurse. so i dont. but i dont moan about those who do.
i just dont get what this thread was about? How can anyone declare that those in a particular role are overpaid when they have no concept of what the job entails or bother to even find out the figures with any accuracy?
i hate that because of the job i do, which i do for the best of intentions, i am fair game for everyone to have a pop at, and i cant escape it even on a parenting forum.
i earn just over 25k. i work 56 - 58 hours over a 6 day week. i pay a large % into my pension, for which i will only accrue for, at best, if i live to and work to 60, 22 years. its not going to pay me a kings ransom. it will pay me the equivalent of a part time wage. We have no union as such (we have a federation) and no industrial rights, - ie = no legal right to strike. the ballot is just that - a ballot. big deal. a ballot was held some years ago, for all the good that did.
why, does another public sector worker, whom i would support in their own endeavours to get a better deal, want to do me down so much?
anyway, this is my last essay on this thread. im positively fed up with it all. In the end, the public get the police they deserve if you want to pay 15k and scrap the pension, think about that, because its true.