AIBU to consider a career as a police detective

[NotInspectorPoirotYet]

I think it sounds like a interesting, rewarding and challenging job but I'm worried about whether it's really compatible with family life? Any detective's with primary school aged children out there? How do you find it?

At the moment I do a job that I find some what uninspiring but that is well paid and with a reasonable work life balance, 40 hours + commute but no real overtime or unsociable hours.

Op, they are very specialist units.

Bubbles, once again, the police is full of graduates. I hardly know anyone who joined at 18. There is already a fast track, but it’s not exclusively for graduates.

DC is not a promotion from PC. It’s a sideways move into serious crime investigation. In order to be able to investigate serious crime you need experience of investigating less serious crime.

@Skittlesss and I probably don’t work in the same force but SGU is the same here too, very hard to get off once you are are on. Forces are screaming out for DCs at the moment as there is a shortage of skills, direct entry DCs has just been rolled out and I do wonder what they will be like.

Being a DC isn’t glamourous and doesn’t really suit family life to be honest, 14/15hour days can be quite common, a job comes in on lates and you can’t just leave it for the morning. There is the nights DC rota which means you will work a set of nights every few months.

I know lots of people who don’t really see their children much, I moved out the role into a m-f role as my DC is young and getting in from work at 2-3am and getting up with him at 6am wasn’t healthy for me at all.

If you are Ok with the impact on family life as it’s a 24/7 role go for it... if not probably isn’t the job for you tbh.

People who are saying, just become a civilian investigator or specialist member of staff. Don't you think that there would always be limits to what you could do if you went down that path?

I mean I have looked at the adverts etc for specialist accountants in the Met fraud squad and they are not badly paid, though not as well as the private sector, but they say things in the job description like you will be working under the supervision of a DC.

I kind of figured that if you actually wanted to run investigations etc that DC would be the route to take.

I just wanted to say that I am really grateful to the all the police taking time to reply and inform me of the actual realities of the job. I am sure it will be helpful to other people as well.

Maybe look at National crime agency.... or civilian investigator roles? Advanced investigator roles tend to be more m- f

And still on a money laundering unit you will need to arrest people, execute warrants at their houses, take statements and go to court - you don’t just sit in an office in the background. That’s what a forensic accountant does.

Money laundering can be very confrontational - some people will tolerate going to prison but will kick off if you touch their money!

To be honest, most of the “exciting” investigations get passed on to the specialist teams. Most of the firearms, cybercrime, murder, stranger rape, trafficking, terrorism crimes get passed to the ops departments at HQ. Division are left with the volume crime.

Does anybody have an indication of starting salary for these direct entry roles? I’ve been considering it loosely myself for a little while (similar reservations to OP) and am reading this thread with interest. Thanks everyone for the real life input, it’s fascinating.

I know salary is not the reason to choose a career like this but living as a single person with a mortgage means I need to be mindful of whether it is a viable option financially.

You could eventually get promoted. Once you're in the door it's easier. Once you know more about the job, you could try for a detective role.

Being a detective and investigating many crimes (including fraud, money laundering, cyber crimes etc) require a totally different skillset to being able to control a riot, or police a rowdy football match, or sort out a domestic, or break up a fight, or redirect traffic after at RTA.

But, at least here, when there is a riot or a major incident, it becomes an "all hands on deck" situation. Everybody jumps in and helps, so they all need those skills, even if they don't use them every day.

I'm not a police officer, but my father was. This seems like a bad idea to me. I think you do need the skills and experience you gain as a uniformed officer to be a good detective.

@MondayTiredEyes it’s crap isn’t it? I’m a civvy, but been working there long enough to see the changes come round multiple times.

I work in a supportive role and see the investigations and I dread to think how bad a “CID” investigation would be if it was done by someone with no uniform experience.

Never knew police were so stricken with internal rivalries and resentment

It's not about rivalry. They have changed and brought in so many things which negatively affect the officers that have given their all to the job for the majority of their adult lives. The cuts and lack of resources and expectations placed on police are ludicrous and so extreme that I don't think people really understand the extent of the issues until they are in it/know someone who is.

It's also all very well and good saying you think detectives require a different skill set to a PC and you think you'd be good at it but a lot of the job is not something you can learn in a classroom. PCs who have worked their way to the detective role know how to work the public, deal with difficult
and often violent and aggressive situations etc...because they've been on the 'front line'.

Honestly, I think it's a bit naive to expect the same level of respect from those around you than that of an officer who's put in the graft through the ranks and has the wealth of experience you gain from that.

For what it's worth my Dad has put literal blood sweat and tears into working his way to where he is. He's given everything to the job since he was a teen. He's seen and dealt with some truly vile and horrific situations, he's known in the community and has a good relationship with the members of it, he has years of knowledge and experience gained from being on the beat which he uses daily in his job as detective. I really don't believe you can get that from a class room, sorry.

He also has a count down on his calendar to when he can retire, he hates what is happening to our police force and can't wait to leave.

Santaclarita, you could have a very good point. Get a job in the police working in my current profession. Then apply once I know more about the police. Or alternatively go back to something similar to my current role if I decide it isn't for me.

Also some of the stuff people are describing, getting out of the office, interviewing witnesses and suspects, going to court, is very appealing to me. One of the things that I don't like about my current role is that it so completely desk and office focused.

Another general question, I assume that most of my replies are from women. How do you cope with confrontations with violent criminals? Do you feel that you are well backed up and have the ability to defend yourselves?

Honestly, I think it's a bit naive to expect the same level of respect from those around you than that of an officer who's put in the graft through the ranks and has the wealth of experience you gain from that.

I couldn't agree more. And I think a lot of professions wills be the same.

OP, could you volunteer as a special first to get some experience? Then you will know a bit about the role of police officer. It might be that you will enjoy that - they investigate crimes also.

I cope with confrontations mainly by using my mouth. CID is differebtvto uniform as generally the fights are over by the time you get there but the tension is always bubbling away, be it from the witnesses, arresting an offender who knows he is getting the jail for years, to interviewing a suspect and putting the hard facts in front of them.

I have to talk my way out that and that’s where 9 years in uniform is no replacent for a degree.

Very little back up and I try not to get in a situation where I need to defend myself but I’m well versed in OST.

I'm not certain you'd like being a detective or near the 'front line' as it were. You don't seem to want to deal with dangerous people, and that's fine, but these jobs come with that expectation really. You can't get away from it.

Would you be absolutely 100% fine with interviewing a sex offender, just as an example? A paedophile? A murderer? It's not like what you see on Netflix etc.

I'm not trying to be harsh here, but the job obviously comes with it's issues. You've already got a potential problem with hours. Now you maybe are unsure of working with violent people.

I would look at other staff jobs, related to your work and get in there. Those jobs offer better hours, still good pay, the work is exciting and you're not likely to be dealing with the criminals face to face.

@pigsinarow the wage is the same a starting as a PC and will rise incrementaly until you reach top scale (£39,150) I think this is in 7years now. It used to be longer but I’m pretty sure it’s 7 years now

Bubbles...are you a police officer? The police have loads of graduates, some who went through a normal entry process and some who went through graduate fast track scheme (not all graduates end up on the fast track). This was an option 20 years ago so not sure where you’re getting your information from.

OP...don’t be put off if you want to go for it. I think what people are trying to say is that your future colleagues want people that can help reduce their workload and I think there is a worry that direct entry people may have some transferable skills but won’t have the foundation in policing that teaches them people skills, dealing with confrontation, interviewing technique, policy and procedure, process, terminology, identifying threat, harm and risk.

A direct entry would be expected to hit the ground running and realistically, they would be a burden before they could become an asset as they would be able to do very little unsupervised.

In terms of doing the role with a young family. I do it, expect to be working late shifts and weekends. Can you make it work? You will have to work some overtime and sometimes quick changeover of shifts (finishing late, starting early), however my force at least are family friendly will accommodate you when you need to finish on time to pick the kids up.

In term of the job, it’s impossible to to say whether you will like it or not as it’s a very personal thing. You would still be police officer though and will make arrests, deal with hostility and sometimes aggression, see disturbing things and have all the obligations that come with being a police officer involve (are you prepared to get involved if you see an incident off duty?).

That said, it can be very rewarding. If you’re up for the challenge, go for it! Good luck.

So Nicknacky when you say there is very little back up? Would you be expected to interview a potentially violent suspect or go out to make an arrest alone?

I think that no matter how much self defence training I had I would be unlikely to do a great job of defending myself against a violent criminal.

It actually makes me think of my mother, who was child protection social worker often working out of hours and the difficult situations she must have encountered. Mind you she told me very firmly not to even think about doing her job!

If you're interested in fraud/money laundering etc, you don't have to join the police to carry out investigations. There are lots of opportunities in the private sector - you don't get to arrest people but you get to interview suspects/witnesses, gather data etc. In my experience, most cases are investigated in house or by a boutique firm and then, if necessary, the evidence is handed over to the police. Obviously there are exceptions!

Not I can’t arrest or interview alone for the basic reason that I require corroboration.

But when you go to arrest a person you have no idea who else is in the house/pub/workplace and who may get involved.

"Did she find the hours too long" 🧐

You're not going to make detective OP, tbh if you can't figure that one out given the current internal state of most Police forces.

The most common crime in my CID office for detectives to carry is rape. We used to have a specialist into (I was in it) but it was closed down due to austerity. So now general detectives carry rape investigations.

If you reported a rape to the police, would you want it to be carried by somebody who had no investigative experience? Would you want your rapist to be interviewed by someone who hadn’t spent a few years honing their interview techniques on intefciews for shoplifting, assaults, thefts etc? I know I wouldn’t.

When someone trains to be a surgeon, they start off with minor procedures. They don’t jump straight into open heart surgery (as glade as I am aware). You need to build your skills. Investigation can not be taught just in the classroom.

Probably going to go and interact with my kids for a bit. The ones I was worried about not seeing if I worked really long shifts and now I have spent half the afternoon typing on the internet.....

But your insight into the realities of the job has been invaluable. This is not the type of information that you get on the met recruitment website.