06/06/2020
Last week I finished my article with a reference about new police officer recruits that will help with the fight against crime and making our communities safe, whilst the country emerges from the pandemic, with increased demand placed upon the police service.
The Hampshire Constabulary website will confirm that recruitment for police officers has begun from early June and during last week, I received an e-mail from our recruitment department regarding positive action recruitment. These two things made me think about this timely article.
I have written before about careers in the police, however, since the pandemic struck, a secure job is something that has come to the forefront of many people`s mind and a career in the police, whether as a uniformed officer or in the many support roles, is certainly something that offers job security – it is also a very rewarding job too.
The job losses we read and know about are sadly just the start. The reality is that many more people will face an uncertain future as the financial impact of the pandemic follows.
Job security has already been seized upon within the NHS, where they have actively promoted their 40,000 nursing vacancies and reached out to the many thousand airline staff who have lost their jobs, knowing that these people are suitable to be retrained and will want a secure future.
Within my own family, members have been furloughed and been made redundant. I have always advocated secure employment, like my father did with myself; it is something that you increasingly value over the years.
The career opportunities in the police are varied. It is not just police officers that are being recruited, it is call handling jobs, civilian investigators and staff working in an office based investigation office, who deal with the high volume reports which do not require the deployment of a police officer or PCSO.
A career as a police officer has not changed all that radically, but the process has, where you can enter as a graduate, or become employed as work towards a degree in policing where you will have protected time to study.
A recognised qualification was previously missing from the police service and it is a nationally recognised qualification that someone could take with them, should they decide to work elsewhere in the future.
The e-mail I received last week about positive action employment is in response to the acknowledgement within Hampshire Constabulary that our work force needs to better reflect the make-up of our communities, therefore we remain keen to attract recruits from all backgrounds.
Positive action means that recruitment can be directed at groups of people who the force would wish to promote employment opportunities and it also means that additional support can be given to those who apply from different backgrounds in the interest of fairness and equal opportunities.
The government has pledged to honour its manifesto despite the massive financial impact of the pandemic, which included the funding to secure an extra 20,000 police officers nationally, therefore or those who are considering a career in the police, this is a good time to apply.
People who join the force often transfer roles with the skills and knowledge they have acquired. Only last month, one of our new PCSO`s transferred from a call-handling role and they said that many of the skills they learnt has helped with the transition to a front-line role.
Employing people with skills, knowledge and experience gained from different, previous careers adds value to the overall police workforce, therefore for people looking for alternative job opportunities, this is important to realise.
To find out more and to apply, please visit our website (https://www.hampshire.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/media/downloads/hampshire/careers/skills-to-serve-hampshire-recruitment-booklet.pdf ).
Most of the recruitment process is completed online, making it safe during the pandemic and any subsequent interview is conducted safely and within the governments safe working guidelines, so too is all training.
As always, I would be happy to hear from anyone a career in the police service, so if you would like a chat, please feel free to contact me, as below.
You can keep up to date with the latest government advice during COVID-19 and our advice to keep you and your family safe.
https://www.hampshire.police.uk/
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/public-health-england
Namaste.
PC 1860 Mark Ranola.
Yateley Police Office.
101 (mark.ranola@hampshire.pnn.police.uk)
