CAREERS AT MERSEYSIDE POLICE Merseyside Police is one of the best performing forces in the country and it takes a huge number of people from all sorts of different backgrounds with a wide range of skills and experience, to achieve that. Do you have what it takes to be one of them? Find out if a career with Merseyside Police is just the change you’re looking for, and what kind of challenges, experiences and rewards you could have in store. HOW LONG DOES THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS FOR POLICE OFFICERS TAKE? The recruitment process can be quite lengthy as your application will go through several stages, the following gives you a breakdown of each of these stages and each applicant may progress at different stages if we need to wait for additional information i.e. medical. STEPS OF SELECTION AND ASSESSMENT • Stage 1 > Formal Application and Eligibility • Stage 2 > Competency Based Questionnaire • Stage 3 > SEARCH Assessment Centre • Stage 4 > Structured Interview • Stage 5 > Medical & Physical Fitness Test • Stage 6 > Post interview ‘ pre-employment checks’ - Vetting and Biometric vetting (DNA/Fingerprints) • Stage 7 > Formal offer • Stage 8 > Commence Training CAN I APPLY IF I HAVE MADE A PREVIOUS APPLICATIONS? You can apply to one police force at a time. If you have had a previous application to Merseyside Police or any other police force rejected, then you need to wait 6 months before you can apply again. If you have failed the National Assessment Centre (SEARCH) then you need to wait 6 months before you are eligible to re-apply. CAN I TRANSFER MY SEARCH ASSESSMENT SCORE TO MERSEYSIDE? If you have passed the National Assessment Centre (SEARCH) within the last 12 months you may be able to transfer your score to Merseyside SEARCH assessment scores are valid for 12 months from the date of your assessment centre. For further details please contact HR recruitment team via email careers@ merseyside.pnn.police.uk WHAT QUALIFICATIONS DO I NEED TO APPLY TO BE A POLICE OFFICER? For this recruitment process, you do not need any specific qualifications to be eligible to apply. However, entry routes into Policing are changing under the new educational reforms
and in future there will be three new entry routes into policing, further detail of these new entry routes will be provided in the near future. WHAT IS THE MINIMUM/ MAXIMUM AGE TO BE ELIGIBLE TO APPLY? Applications can be accepted at the age of 18. There is no upper age limit for applying to the police service, but keep in mind that the normal retirement age is 60 years and that new constable recruits are required to undertake a two year probationary period. DO YOU NEED TO HAVE A DRIVING LICENCE? No, Merseyside Police do not currently require applicants to have a driver licence to be eligible to apply. NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS You must be a British citizen, an EC/ EEA national or a commonwealth citizen or foreign national with no restrictions on your stay in the United Kingdom. Candidates who have lived abroad may be required to have resided in the UK for three years due to difficulties often faced with obtaining adequate vetting checks from abroad. All applicants have to be vetted to the same standard before appointment. CAN I APPLY IF I HAVE A CRIMINAL CONVICTION? Whether you’re eligible depends on the nature and circumstances of the offence. It is not possible to set out a full list of convictions that will preclude a person from becoming a Police Constable. There may also be circumstances where an individual whose suspected involvement in crime, or criminal associations make an offer of employment inappropriate. Police Officers are in the evidential chain, which means any convictions and cautions must be disclosed in accordance with CPS Disclosure Manual (chapter 18) when that officer appears at court. Each case is considered on its own merits taking into account all available information. The decision is made considering the Code of Ethics and Professional Behaviour and using the Police National Decision Model (NDM). However, some issues relating to the candidate which definitely lead to rejection are: • Offences which resulted in a prison sentence • Registered sex offender (or other conviction requiring registration) • Existing County Court Judgements • Bankruptcy which is not discharged
are carried out because police officers have access to privileged information, which may make them vulnerable to corruption. Applicants with outstanding County Court Judgements, who may have been registered bankrupt with outstanding debts will be rejected. If you have any discharged bankruptcy debts, then you will need to provide a Certificate of Satisfaction with your application. WILL I BE REJECTED IF I HAVE TATTOO? Not necessarily. If you have tattoos please declare these on your application form. We will ask you to send us photographs of each tattoo to show us the location and nature of it/ them. We will then assess the tattoo(s) against our standards. Officers must have a general appearance which is in keeping with the Code of Conduct for Police Officers and which ensures the dignity of the Office of Constable. Any visible tattoos must always be able to be fully covered via long sleeved shirts, plasters or camouflage makeup. Body Art must not be discriminatory in any way, lewd, crude, violent in nature or show any allegiance to any unacceptable organisations. WHAT LEVEL OF FITNESS DO I NEED TO ACHIEVE? In the role of Police Officer, you will face challenging situations where a good level of physical fitness is necessary, therefore it’s a requirement for all Police Officers to obtain and maintain good levels of fitness at all times. To ensure you are fit enough to fulfil the role, you will undertake a fitness test. The test contains two parts: • Dynamic Strength Test (Push-pull) and • Endurance Fitness Test (Bleep - test). Performance on both of these tests will provide a good indicator of a candidate’s capability to perform various police tasks
CAN I APPLY IF I WEAR GLASSES/CONTACT LENS? Yes, as long as your vision can be suitably corrected. As part of the recruitment process you will need to go to the optician for an eye test and bring the results of your medical assessment for review. IF I HAVE A DISABILITY CAN I APPLY TO BECOME A POLICE CONSTABLE? We welcome applications from people with disabilities, if you have a disability which would still allow you to fulfil the full role of Police Officer. If you consider yourself to have a disability and require reasonable adjustments, please inform us on your application form of the type of reasonable adjustments you might need to assist you in participating in the recruitment and selection process. We will try to make reasonable adjustments where practicable. I HAVE A MEDICAL CONDITION: DOES THIS PREVENT ME FROM JOINING? It depends on the nature of the medical condition. We require all applicants to pass our medical assessment to ensure you meet the BMI and health standards required. We follow the Government’s guidance on police health officer requirements. ARE MERSEYSIDE POLICE ONLY RECRUITING UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS? No, Merseyside Police welcomes applications from all, but we are proud to use positive action initiatives to help redress the balance from under-representative groups. WOULD I HAVE TO WORK IN THE AREA I LIVE? As a Police Officer you may be required to work anywhere within the Merseyside geographical area.
CAN I APPLY IF I HAVE OUTSTANDING DEBT? Applicants will have their financial status checked. These checks
Career Opportunities Opportunities for for serving serving and and retired retired police police officers officers Career
Autumn Police Resettlement Resettlement Magazine Magazine 49 29 Autumn2020 2019 Police
