James S.
About me
| James S. | |
| Politics | |
| Politics | |
| Undergraduate | |
| Goodricke | |
| 1999 | |
| United Kingdom |
My employment
| Chief Inspector | |
| Cambridgeshire Constabulary | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Armed forces and emergency services | |
| £17000 | |
| £53000 |
Like this profile?
Add this profile to your favourites so you can return to it later from your account.
A day in the life of a Chief Inspector in the United Kingdom
Where I hope to be in 5 years
I joined the police to become a Chief Constable and things are progressing well.
My advice about working in my industry
The single piece of advice I would give to anyone thinking about joining the police is to learn as much about the job as you can- preferably first hand. Recruitment to the police is competitive - often we are under-represented at graduate level but for many people applying this has been their life's goal and they are very passionate about it. This can overshadow people with an impressive academic record but little practical insight into the role. Volunteering as a special constable, work experience or seeking out police officers to talk about their jobs are all good ways of demonstrating that you have a real understanding and commitment towards the service.
What I do
The police is rank structured but with many specialisms which means you have the chance to develop your career horizontally as well as vertically. Over the last 13 years I've done a number of roles- including investigator, plain-clothes pro-active work, project work and supervising front line officers at various ranks. Presently, I am an area-commander. This means that I supervise teams of officers covering a specific geographical area. It's like a mini-police force with it's own teams of detectives, community support officers and uniformed police constables.
Skills I use and how I developed them
The single piece of advice I would give to anyone thinking about joining the police is to learn as much about the job as you can- preferably first hand. Recruitment to the police is competitive - often we are under-represented at graduate level but for many people applying this has been their life's goal and they are very passionate about it. This can overshadow people with an impressive academic record but little practical insight into the role. Volunteering as a special constable, work experience or seeking out police officers to talk about their jobs are all good ways of demonstrating that you have a real understanding and commitment towards the service.
Extracurricular skills:
Communication skills - these are the most critical. You need to be able to talk to people and to understand them or you will not last very long, especially in the first two years. In more senior ranks the ability to comprehend and summarise large quantities of data and information is very important- especially when commanding time-critical jobs.
What I like most
It's a very challenging job but at every rank in the police you have a chance to make a real impact in peoples lives. There is genuine variety and sometimes the work you do is very high profile. I enjoy the camaraderie of the police as well as the representing the service locally and sometimes nationally.
What I like least
It can be a thankless task at times and for obvious reasons not everyone is happy to see you all of the time. The majority of officers work shifts for a large portion of their career and on-call if they reach senior ranks. There is no way to dress this up- working shifts is not fun and disrupts your personal life.
Next steps...
If you like the look of James’s profile, the next steps are down to you! You can send James a message to find out more about their career journey.