In September 2019, the Home Office announced plans to recruit 20,000 new police officers over the next three years. Policing in Northern Ireland and Scotland is separate, but police there are recruiting too. However, there are a lot of hoops to jump through before you can start work on the beat. Vetting when joining the p0lice is strict, and for good reason. If you’ve always fancied yourself as a DI Jane Tennison or a Sergeant Lewis, what should you expect?
Basic Entry Requirements
There are some basic requirements for anyone applying to join the police force. Applicants must be at least 18 years old, and from the UK, EU or a Commonwealth country. This may well change after Brexit. Candidates have to pass fitness tests, assessing both physical and mental capability to do the job. There’s an eyesight test, and most forces won’t take people with tattoos on their hands, faces or necks. You’ll also need a basic standard of education, with C level passes in GCSE English language.
Other Vetting When Joining the Police
Once you have the basics of fitness and education out of the way, there is a whole other level of vetting when joining the police. Being a police constable is a very responsible position and it’s essential that any people doing it for the wrong reasons are weeded out. All of the police services around the country have lots of information on their recruitment pages about what they check, and why. There are however a few checks which are standard practice, wherever you are applying in the UK.
It’s important to point out that these checks go deeper than even an enhanced DBS check, also known as a CRB check, which you might have applied for previously. A DBS check is only about looking into your criminal record. Police vetting looks at not only your police record, but also your character, financial situation and even who you associate with in your free time.
Navigating the Vetting Process
Usually, the vetting process is done at the second stage of deciding whether you’d be suitable as a police officer. Vetting is a time-consuming process so it doesn’t make sense to check each and every applicant. HR officers will first sift through anyone who doesn’t meet the basic criteria in terms of nationality or education. After a preliminary interview, successful candidates will then proceed to the next stage involving eye tests, fitness tests and medicals. It’s at this stage where the vetting process starts.
Candidates will first complete a vetting form. Sample forms are available online, and are often lengthy. Applicants have to give their own personal details, but also the details of their partner, children, parents, siblings and any other people who they live with. Vetting when joining the police looks not only at your background, but the background of your immediate family too. In most cases, any sort of criminal conviction will automatically bar you from joining the police but it’s never wise to try to lie in the hope they won’t find out.
Most vetting forms will also ask more general questions about your background and interests. Have you ever been part of groups which could be described as “disruptive”? The Met police, for example, has a blanket ban of employing anyone who has ever been a member of the British National Party. What about your friends and family – are they involved in criminality? Have you been declared bankrupt, been refused a loan or had your house repossessed?
There are lots of questions, and all are designed to weed out people who might find themselves under pressure from relatives or friends who are involved in criminality. Alternatively, someone with serious money worries might find it impossible to refuse bribes, and run the risk of becoming a corrupt officer.
How vetting when joining the police take?
Unfortunately, there’s no standard time it takes for vetting. Everyone’s circumstances are different. If, for example, you write on the form that a distant cousin has been in trouble with the law, this might take more investigation and time. Vetting checks must be complete before you can start training. Therefore, it’s important that you’re as honest as you can be on the form. Completing forms promptly and sending them back as soon as you can will also help speed things along.