Using The ‘Police Could You’ Website for Initial Information
If you have ever studied law in the past, you will have noticed how people who are interested in joining the police approach you for initial information on the best ways for them to move forward. I always tended to direct them to the website of their local police force and strongly advised them to familiarise themselves with the Acts of Parliament that would be most pertinent to their new chosen role of employment: e.g. PACE and SOCPA. However, the police forces also collectively run a recruitment advertising campaign known as ‘Police Could You’.
This campaign was actually conceived at the start of the 21st century as a way of attempting to boost the number of serving police officers in the country. Numbers had declined over the years from a high of over 28,000 in March 1993, to a low of 124,000 in the same month of 2000. Much of the blame for these falling numbers appeared to be apportioned to the relatively new Labour government of the day.
The ‘Police Could You’ advertising campaign used well-known personalities such as Simon Weston (Falklands War veteran) and the Eastenders’ actress, Patsy Palmer, to discuss certain roles of the police force in the hope that this would stimulate interest in the right calibre of applicant to come forward. It was widely accepted that there did not seem to be a lack of applicants putting themselves forward to work for police forces across the country, more a lack of the right kind of applicant.
This ‘no holes barred’ campaign really did try to separate the ‘wheat from the chaff’ on this score: it portrayed the very rawest side of police work and did not dress things up with cotton wool. For example, Simon Weston passed comment on the fact that he was certain that he couldn’t go around to a person’s house, whom he didn’t know, and inform him that both his wife and child had been killed in a car crash.
The ‘Police Could You’ website remains an excellent first ‘port-o-call’ for anyone that may be interested in joining the police and looking for basic information on what might be expected from them. The site does not appear to be affiliated with any force in particular, and instead, provides more generic information on what different jobs will mean in any police force across the country.
This is a very useful initial research tool. You can work through the different job role sections and familiarise yourself with what exactly is involved if you decide to go ahead and apply. Obviously, everyone tends to think about a police officer when their thoughts turn to jobs associated with the police, but it is important to remember that there are numerous other jobs and something else may be better for you at this time.
For example, there are two other jobs that are very similar to the work of a police officer but of a more part-time or less-powerful nature. Special constables work on a voluntary basis and do have the same level of powers as a police officer. They are asked to commit at least four hours of their time per week and this can be an excellent way of finding out what working with the police would be like and if perhaps you fancy applying for a full-time career in the future.
There are also PCSOs (Police Community Support Officers) and these members of the police force generally tend to have the same powers of arrest as you and me: in other words, they can only make a citizen’s arrest for an indictable offence. Some people struggle to understand the true effectiveness of PCSOs, especially when they are furnished with such weak powers of arrest, whilst voluntary special constables have the same level of powers as ordinary officers. However, there are many perks to working as a PCSO and these officers will liaise more closely with the community and be far more hands-on.
Then, of course, you may wish to consider careers other than working as a police officer. The Police Could You website is one of very few resources to set out this information in the same place for you. The site runs through careers such as volunteer support staff and call handlers, amongst others, and it may transpire that this type of job is more ideal for you.
One of the most valuable resources of the Police Could You website is the fact that there are a myriad documents available for you to download in accordance with each specific job as a police officer. This will give you a clear insight into the application process involved and allow you to make preparations before finally deciding on the specific force that appeals to you the most.
