police officer

business support

call taker

custodian

learning and development officer

West Midlands Police

A typical day as a response officer. You'll come into what we call the 'nick' approximately 20 minutes before briefing, get kitted up and head into the briefing room. There'll either be a few teas brewed or you'll be free to brew a tea for yourself and/or your colleagues. One thing you'll notice is that there will be a range people from different ages, backgrounds, colours, some more than others. This will be made of up student officers, some older serving ones, etc. The conversation will generally be about world events, what has happened recently on the job, or for those more inclined, things that have happened in your personal lives or things you've gotten up to on the weekend. If you're more introverted (like myself), this is a time to enjoy listening and chiming in on the conversation as appropriate. The Sargent and occasionally Inspector will then pop in, allocate your callsigns and who you'll be working with for the day, and go over any briefing notes. From there, you can either remain in the office to catch up with any admin work, but it won't be long before you're attached a job which can be anything from a sudden death to live break in, or something more common and sometimes repetitive such as a domestic incident. You'll deal with the job accordingly (arrest, organising for the appropriate department to collect a body, gather an account from a victim, refferals), and then you'll head back to the station to crime and do any further admin.

In short, this is generally the day of a response officer.  It sounds simple enough, and in a way it is, but like with any job, there are challenges which most of us have to face. Firstly there's the Police culture. For a more introverted, it can feel overwhelming at first to try and 'fit in'. However, in time you learn that people are genuinely their own characters. You'll start to appreciate the jokers, the extroverted, the loud ones, and even the quite ones like yourself, because once your own a live job with a troubled victim or rowdy suspect and that person utilises their 'extrovertedness' or 'introvertedness' to effectively deal with the situation, you come to appreciate, love and respect the traits in your colleagues that in the normal world you would probably look to avoid with a barge pole. It's a shame that in the civilian life we often avoid those different from ourselves or who we're comfortable with, but this leads to a level of trust and on-the-job camaraderie in the police which you may not find anywhere else. 

In short, the police can seem like a culture that is steered towards one demographic once you first start, but if you give it time, you'll soon find that there is a great richness which may be overshadowed by bad press, a bad initial experience in the job, lower pay than previous years etc. I think that if you can push through the growing pains, you'll gradually appreciate the job for what it's worth more and more.

There are some positives working for WMP. However, the negatives vastly outweigh those. Joining through the student routes on the face of it seems exciting. However you quickly learn that you are underpaid and are highly worked having to complete assessment after assessment, role plays, uni work and portfolios. Students are forced to work in departments they never applied for and often miles away from their home and are given pennies during training. Once put onto a team after training you quickly realise that everything you were taught goes out the window, standards, behaviours etc and you are forced to adopt this culture or not fit in. Students are  looked down upon by the old fashioned officers who are reluctant to help students out. You are often sat alone with no support or training and this lack of knowledge then is looked down upon by management as incompetence. The viewpoints of many officers is outdated and if you challenge these viewpoints, it cannot be done in secrecy and you become isolated from the team. It’s a very oppressive and demanding workplace. There is no incentive for management to help students as they are overworked and often have No communication that you will be joining their team. A huge issue is that students are placed all over in rotations meaning that any meaningful connections (the most important aspect of the work!!) are lost and you are forced to reintegrate over and over. It is clear that many people in WMP are unhappy (many taking early retirement or leaving) there are some good people but not enough considering the type of role this is!  Police staff are paid more than those on the frontline, the grade system and structure needs a change. Oh and women and men are forced to change the same changing areas, evidencing the need for a shift for change!

I would go through various risk assessments and ensure that service and maintenance are kept up to date on all six premises that come under my Local Policing Unit. I would do this by liaising with sub contractors and with the Finance department to ensure that payment or renewal services have been put into place. I go through the Accident system to ensure that my records are up to date and check if any accidents or assaults or near misses have occurred and report them to the Business Manager.

I have obtained vast knowledge through my NEBOSH courses and working along side the Property service departments and sub contractors on the way they implement any set job.

Management within the LPU is approachable and provide support to me and my work when required. My co workers are very skilled and motivated indivduals and work well together to achieve a set goal e.g. provide a safe working environment for workers, contractors and visitors.

The hardest part of my job would be to change Police officers attitudes towards Health & Safety and remind Supervisors and Line Managers of their responsibility towards Health & Safety.

Ensuring that a system is in place or by providing Officers and staff with the right equipment and appropriate training towards using that equipment e.g. MEWEP.

I proudly worked as a civilian for over 20 years, dealing with the public face to face and via the phone.
Once a very enjoyable and rewarding job and now no resemblance to the job I was interviewed for (also having to be re interviewed for your own job that you have years of experience was insulting) Poor management with more chiefs than Indians with staff under lots of pressure and stress and given more tasks added to job description with no regard for the wellbeing of the individual. Force contact is a shambles with management wondering why staff sickness levels are high especially with mental heath issues caused by working for WMP with no support in place. This once well oiled machine is no longer giving a good service to the public and I for one got fed up of fobbing members of the public off why we cant or wont do anything about the crime or issues they have become victims of because of policy changes.
Where once we were all part of a big family/team this is no longer the case with colleagues belittling and stabbing each other in the back to make themselves look good to supervision, and if you dare to leave you will be ostracized from so called friends with not even a text or call to wish you well.
I therefore can not recommend taking up a job if you value your health and social or family life.

This is a large organisation and it feels that those at HQ and in support roles have no understanding of the pressures that the frontline officers are under.  There is a culture that the officers should know everything about every area of business which simply isn't possible.  There are constant changes resulting in officers never becoming experienced or familiar with any processes.  The introduction of a new computer system that is not fit for purpose has added extra pressure to an already exhausted workforce.

Officers are under ever increasing pressures and although the organisation has tried desperately hard to put in health and wellbeing support measures, the volume of work and staffing issues ultimately result in officers being near breaking point. 

The work that Police, particularly detectives carry out is under ever increasing scrutiny and yet they are being given more and more work, which means less and less time to undertake the work that will result in a successful prosecution.

For such a large force with all the adverts and media this is one of the worst run forces in the uk.
Poor management at every level..
Seems as though once a person is promoted or has a slight level of authority that they must also hand over their backbone and a few brain cells.
Nobody can make a decision as they are all scared of what might happen.
New uni student officers are shockingly terrible and have no interest in staying in the job ..most ate leaving once they have gained a degree...some are very open about this.
Management and supervision are constantly trying to put square pegs in round holes.
Officers with years of experience on the streets are being forced to sit behind a desk in investigation...where I might add...cicivilian staff earn double sometimes triple of that officer...no care of duty shown to anybody that raises any concern....you are just a number remember..they will replace you ina second...
Sickness is through the roof...
But if you are from a different background.. or sexuality you will go very very far in west midlands police...probably be promoted in a week.
Stay away if you like your family and your mental health...
Join as a pcso and enjoy life.

Awful department to work in.
Treated like robots one call after the other no breaks other than lunch causing high rate of stress and burnout 
Calls are targeted (yes that right you are measured on how many calls you take and how long you spend them) despite the fact you can not control this. 
Some Bad supervisors  giving bad advice and very inexperienced in leadership, a lot of double standards happening. 
Staff views  not listened too 
No support, bad training but high expectations
Unfair and unequal development recruitment practices 
Culture of quantity of quality, but if you go below quality be prepared to be spoken too like you're stupid from all angles. 
Impossible to get Annual leave due to constantly being understaffed, there are a lot of retention issues. 
Overworked and underpaid for what's expected 

Good bits 
Good team work 
Some nice supervisors 
Secure job as long as you don't make a serious mistake 
Large company so good hr practices to protect you 
It's just sad the department leadership has caused such disconnect and bad retention 


I joined the West Midlands Police in May 1976 and retired after 30yrs service in May 2006... I enjoyed being committed and dedicated to my profession and as a result of my 30yrs I obtained great communication skills having worked with the public, I sharpened up my powers of observations and attention to detail, I gained numerous skills within the Police Force such as my grade 1 driving standard the highest that can be gained, I was trained up in self defence and personal protection to a very high standard so not only can I take care of myself but I can protect others on foot or protect them in vehicles such as diplomatic protection too... This was such an exciting time in my career and this brought me great job satisfaction too. I retired with an exemplary record and a copious amount of experience and skills... I never regretted my choice of profession once.

In my last role my typical day was typing up witness statements to be presented in court. I very much enjoyed this role and worked with a wonderful set of colleagues. Some of the statements could be quite distressing but with the support of colleagues we found the ability to support each other. The most enjoyable part of the job was achieving the targets by the end of the day and the lovely people I worked along side. I also found the work extremely interesting. 

I also love reception work as I have excellent people/communication skills and enjoy interacting with others and being seen as helpful and friendly face. 

I also enjoyed my cleaning work and developed very good relationships with my colleagues and prided myself on my cleaning skills and efficiency within the role. 

I am flexible, enthusiastic and hard working whatever my role may be, either PA to a Director or Cleaning Floors, I give 100% to any I take on.

The management do not have a clue about day to day business. Too busy having meetings about irrelevant matters to implement anything effective for the public. You really have got to have your face fit otherwise you will not get progress in the company. There a very few departments you can actually work on that are interesting unless you like working in middle of Birmingham with no parking or long unsociable hours. There are far too many civilians being brought in at top levels deciding the fate of police officers roles when they have never done it themselves. The force has Destroyed any morale or team spirit the job ever had. Removing police station bars, sports clubs and constantly disbanding teams and moving officers all over the force losing any work friendships you once had. So many off sick or waiting to retire, awful organisation. They really have destroyed a once great company/place to work.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Police officer 22 salaries reported	£38,987 per year
Business support 4 salaries reported	£28,380 per year
Call taker 23 salaries reported	£27,692 per year
Custodian 12 salaries reported	£27,437 per year
Learning and development officer 1 salary reported	£47,825 per year

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