I’m a DI. The first thing I would say is that it’s the best job in the world. There’s nothing like the sense of satisfaction you get from seeing a dangerous offender go to prison and a victim getting justice.
We don’t have this entry route in my force and as much as I’d like to be open minded I’m concerned that sometimes people see a detective as not really being a police officer. Having worked both uniform and CID in various departments I can hand on heart tell you that you are really likely to be putting longer hours in as a detective. We try to make sure people have a work life balance and look after our staff but the reality is you are not a civilian and once you join you no longer have the same employment rights. When you pick up a prisoner you stay until the jobs done if they need remanding. If that means early hours of the morning then so be it. You can be lawfully ordered to stay on duty if you refuse. I don’t mean to sound dramatic but this really is the reality. If you are working on a murder I will also expect you back in the next morning and the following morning as well. Because that’s what needs to happen.
There’s nothing wrong with joining the police when you are older. We welcome people from all walks of life and experience. But from what you have said this might be an aspect worth reflecting on.
Also a couple of people have mentioned violent confrontations. These tend to be less frequent as detective but you need to be able to confident in handling yourself in a physical confrontation often with someone bigger and stronger than you because you’ve got to remember you’re going to be in office wear so no safety boots and not always wearing body armour although you can carry covert body armour. As a DI I expect my staff to go out and make their own arrests unless there is a very good reason not to. Otherwise we might as well hire civilians instead.
Prior to this scheme every detective has always spent years rolling around on the floor on a Friday and Saturday night so you usually have a good grounding in fighting. Again this is not impossible to overcome, it really depends on you as a person your psychical strength and ability to defend yourself. The strength test is a bit of a joke, it’s designed not to discriminate rather than a minimum standard.
Generally I don’t think these schemes are necessarily a bad thing if you going into it knowing you will have your work cut out for you because you won’t have that experience and are prepared to work hard to make up for it and have good physical strength. I would strongly recommend taking up some martial arts or something similar if you don’t already. I can guarantee people will want to see how you get on with arrests, whether you shy away from getting hands on with people. This would give you a bit of confidence in your abilities which will stand you in good stead. If this is something you are reading and thinking… I would never do then it might not be the job for you.
Happy to talk further if you want to DM me. I genuinely love what I do and will talk about it all day but it’s not for everyone and was a real eye opener for me.