police officer

forensic technician

housekeeper

investigator

business assistant

Essex-Police

I have worked for Essex Police for over 9 years and its truly one of the best jobs I've ever had, the hours can be long but adrenaline keeps you going! 

I've had a variety of roles and managed a number of people in various high profile investigations.  Due to the size of these large investigations the structure is very clear for each role within a new job, they give you the flexibility to use your initiative and trust in my experience to investigate each areas designated to the best of my ability.  I've learnt that I can work independently but prefer to work alongside other people, I can manage a number of people in extreme situations and have good judgement, practical and logistical skills.

Some days/weeks is very long hours with little rest, extremely high levels of stress and pressure, some officer safety issues with house searches / irate families.  Now mainly single crewed at all hours of the day or night and without police officer equipment am sometimes in a highly vulnerable state. 

Most enjoyable part of the job is the team around me, getting the piece of evidence to take the case to court, realising that I was part of such important work that helps people sleep easier at night.  Making a difference and challenging myself in ways I have never before had.

The reason for my change of career is due to the recent cuts, I've seen over the years, the teams depleting, Officers and staff retiring without replacements, a higher number of murders especially over the last three years and to the breaking point of a number of people.  I feel I can no longer do my job properly, I don't have time to investigate to the level of service we once did, families of the victims not receiving the care and commitment they deserve and struggling to cope with the level of work.  The work life balance is heavily in the works favour and I'm embarrassed that I feel like I'm rushing each job that I'm juggling.  I still have ambition and drive but want to place my efforts into something that I will have a better work life balance with, enjoy and hopefully still make a difference somewhere!

There's no typical day as a member of the emergency services. It's a high stress, emotionally rewarding, but financially lacking role. Anything from a neighbour dispute to a full on street fight. An RTC to a suspect on premises. Made ever more difficult by a distinct lack of officers, high demand and somewhat lacking supervision.

I have learned quite a mix of skills. An ability to change my delivery style dependant on the person I'm conversing with, and their needs. To remain calm in situations never faced by most. A pretty extensive  knowledge of the law. Never to judge a person on first impressions, people are always different in high stress situations. 

Some senior management are great. The really understand the pressures of front line policing and the difficulties faced. They are few and far between. Sadly policing has become a job overrun by people who can talk a good job, but have few practical skills, and lacking interpersonal skills. Promotion is now for those who talk a good job and sadly is not based on ability, proven by actions, but assessed on your ability to fill out a form and talk corporate jargon.

I have to say the majority of officers I have worked with have a genuine desire to save life and protect property, and catch criminals. Unfortunately there are one too many who just want to be able to say they are a Police Officer, and will spend more time trying to talk their way out of an incident, than it takes to deal with it properly.

The hardest part of the job is self evident. Dealing with serious incidents involving the death of a person, having to tell their family, then going on to the next incident, remaining professional, and dealing with that incident whilst trying not to reflect to deeply on the previous incident.

The most enjoyable part of the job is helping genuine victims of crime, arresting the bad guys, and getting a good result at court, so that victim feels justice has been achieved.

Typical day 
Fast paced work environment going from one incident to another. Its unlikely you will get time to work on your investigations and honestly at the end of the day you may work overtime criming all the jobs you have been too and doing the necessary paperwork for the investigation to be created. Some members of the public are great but a lot degrade the police whenever they attend an incident. 

What ive learned 
I have learned a lot from this job and that im more capable than I first realised however the job demands so much from officers to the point where it really saps the life from you.

Management
From ny experience the management have helped me a lot when it comes to understanding the paperwork. However Local policing teams (front lines) are the bottom of the ladder and a lot of other departments will not take on jobs that they are required too meaning LPT deal with too many jobs that they do not have time to progress. 
It also seems like the roles are not as easy to access as they make out. A number of officers are kept on LPT longer than they want to be purely because the staffing levels are low so getting to another department that you WANT to join may be hard. Because of this some are "force posted" to certain roles they may not want to do purely due to maintaining numbers.

Workplace culture 
It can be good but this is the same as any other workplace, some can be really helpful others can be really underhanded and snakes.

Hardest part of the job 
Some sights you see and general stress of the job put a lot of officers out of work .

Attending for duty I complete a handover briefing with the manager I take over from. This will include the status of the Command and Control system, crime, and other incidents in the last ten hours, prisoners in custody for interview, missing persons etc. I then brief my team while understanding and integrating their plans they have to progress their individual investigation portfolios with the needs and demands of the day.I then have a short period to prepare for the Command Team briefing. This is a detailed and intrusive examination of the days priorities for each area, the staff they have on duty, work loads and commitments, and how performance can be driven.After the briefings the day begins in ernest and every day is different. The one certainty is the constant torrent of competing demands that require prioritisation and progression, these can be both inside the station or out on the streets, but each must be progressed and concluded according to the highest standards.Team work and communication at all levels are essential, and here I am fortunate in having an excellent team and management team who work so well together, and in whom I have near complete trust. In this environment a ten hour shift passes in a flash with memories of a cold cup of tea and if your lucky a half eaten sandwich, but the great part is when you can tell a victim of crime you have solved their case, or arrested someone who is responsible for committing high levels of crime in the area.Then as the working day/or night closes I have to prepare the handover briefing for the oncoming manager, ensure the command and control system has been fully updated, and handover packages are prepared for all prisoners arrested in our tour of duty.

Being a police officer in the 21st Century requires you to carry out far more than law enforcement duties. You will be a parent, a firefighter, a carer, tea maker, taxi driver, social worker, provider of first aid, bearer of bad news, bearer of horrifying news, witness of horrifying incidents, expert witness, mechanic, locksmith, negotiator and life coach. These are but a few of the roles and responsibilities you will carry out all the while you will be criticised from all quarters. The press will seize upon any infraction, the public will expect you to have the highest of standards even when their own sink far below what is expected. Everyone with an opinion will profess to know how to do your job yet few will walk the streets at 4am on a cold night. Many people will tell you that you are useless, pointless, ignorant and violent and most of those will be both ignorant and violent themselves. Some will expect you to come to their aid whenever they pick up the phone but will claim not to talk to police officers if you ask for their help. You will be expected to leave your family behind to go and help someone you don't know, the public are entitled to your help even when they don't deserve it. You are underpaid, have little employment rights and will get little thanks. You will get injured, sometimes seriously and a few of you will be killed. It's not a job, it's a vocation and those that undertake it will stand watch alongside you as brothers and sisters.

This isn't a 30 year career anymore. The government changed the pension system ten years ago and added five more years and heavily reduced benefits. But don't worry, you are statistically very unlikely to work the full 35 years. 

If you are lucky you use it as a stepping stone to get qualifications that are transferrable to the rapidly growing private sector (fraud investigation, private online security etc..) 

If you are unlucky you get sacked after a spurious complaint.

But in reality you'll likely realise the utopia they sold you during your probationary training is far removed from the truth of modern day-to-day policing in England and Wales and end up spending the rest of your career in fear of getting a complaint and avoiding responding to incidents in case you pick up any work that could lead to a complaint.

Watch as your colleagues ignore the radio or pretend they didn't hear when a call comes in looking for someone to respond to an incident. There are more and more people working in made up back office roles trying to figure out where to find police officers to attend incidents and investigate crime when they are sat in the middle of the delusion and not able to see why THEY are the problem.

A typical shift was always very busy.  Each time I answered the call, I would never know what the caller was going to say.  Sometimes the call could be incredibly stressful as it could be that the caller is in danger or has hurt themselves or threatening to hurt themselves.  I had to remain calm and talk to the caller all the time, reassuring them that help was on its way for them.  I had to assess the nature of the call and how urgent it was and keep the caller on the line if I felt that they were at any kind of risk.

The most enjoyable part of the job was knowing that I had helped someone and made a slight difference to their lives by either getting them the required help, or simply just listening to them.

The hardest part of the job was hearing about someones misfortune or the dangerous position that they are in and feeling helpless at the other end of the phone, but then reassured at the same time that someone else is going to help them.

I had built up a good working rapport with the rest of the team which made it easier when a stressful call was received as I was able to talk about it to them afterwards.

My day normally Starts by checking e mails,
book in items seized overnight, check exhibit labels, move items to storage locations
Move items on the computer system to show audit trail,
Review officer updates on entry's
Get items ready for court/interview book them out to officers on computer.
Take phone calls from members of the public, solicitors, officers, deal with queries.
Disposal of property no longer required
Letters to owners for property to be released.
Check property on computer that has been booked into other stations.
search and identify owners of found property and contact them.
Arrange disposal/ transfer of high risk items such as Drugs/ firearms ect.

I have 1 line manager and currently 4 members of staff who report directly to me.
Hardest part of the job is trying to be a property officer and a property supervisor at the same time... not enough staff.

Most enjoyable part of the job re acquainting people with items they thought they would never see again.

Team briefing setting the key priorities for the day. Either, deployed to patrol on foot / car or to review and update e-mails, completing tasks and actions as required. During the shift we remained flexible to meet the changing environment that exists within the local community often being the first response at an accident, looking for missing persons, anti social behaviour or criminal scene preservation.
Each is very different and I gained new experiences every day, this has made be a better more rounded individual.
Management and supervision changed on a regular basis, this brought its own new challenges of building relationships.
I worked as part of a team supporting my co-workers day to day.
The most difficult part of my role is when I have to respond to a death or seriously injured people.
The most enjoyable parts of my role was making a difference to venerable people going through difficult times and the interaction with the public.

I currently work within the public protection department within Essex Police identifying children who are at risk of child abuse, including on-line abuse, child exploitation or related criminal conduct and implement measures in order to safeguard them. 

As much as I enjoy working with this field I am potentially looking for a change in career after being within the public sector for fourteen years. 

The most enjoyable part of the job is knowing that you have made a difference to children that have been safeguarded.

The hardest part of the job is of course is having to read and see the abuse that the children go through, however

I believe that some of the workplace culture has diminished over the years. Despite being open to change, displaying integrity at all times, staff do not feel valued and sometimes it is difficult to speak out and put your views across, especially if they are negative.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Police officer 9 salaries reported	£33,819 per year
Forensic technician 8 salaries reported	£32,934 per year
Housekeeper 10 salaries reported	£31,776 per year
Investigator 1 salary reported	£26,385 per year
Business assistant 1 salary reported	£25,311 per year

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