POLICE COMMUNITY SUPPORT OFFICER Review

Assisting police constables
Intelligence Gathering
Community engagement
High visibility patrols
School engagement

The programme was split into several segments. This consisted of an initial 13 weeks training, 6 weeks of this was at training school, 1 week of this was a taster week at the station where i was being tutored and the remaining weeks were at training school. I deemed it a good idea to split up the 12 weeks training with a week of being deployed at the station where you were being tutored however, the station where i was tutored and where i gained IPS, was not the station where i was being deployed to permanently.
Personally, i deemed this a negative of the programme as it meant i developed relationships within the team i was posted with for several weeks, then i was deployed to my permanent post. This was a difficult transition for me as i felt although i was in a disadvantaged position, whereby i had to develop relationships again and learn a new area.

I have received support from my sergeants, on both teams whereby, i felt comfortable to approach them with any queries/worries about my role, and gain support for this. I was also accommodated for when i requested a change of rota, due to work life balance. This was extremely important for me as it allowed me to maintain relationships outside of work, which are very important to me.

I have received a lot of support from my training provider when working toward my qualification. This has consisted of guiding me in the right direction when faced with a problem in my role and providing me with reasonable/helpful solutions. I also raised a query of being deployed to a station which was very close to my home address, which i did not feel comfortable with. My training providers listened to my concerns, and worked extensively to post me to a position where i felt at a comfortable distance away from my home address, which allowed me to feel safe within my role.

My qualification/training allows me to perform better in my role as it has provided me with all the correct tactics/training, in order to perform my role to the best of my ability. Although my training has provided me with all the correct tactics to perform to an good standard in my role, i believe that it has been through experience i have gained at different incidents, and through working with varying individuals, which has increased my performance at work.

Yes

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