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Whatever happened to the City Police?
Posted by
Giraffe
,
03 December 2011
·
369 views
Some of you may remember my last blog entry - basically I applied to become a regular with the City of London Police, and having passed all the stages was awaiting a start date. At each stage I got to I thought to myself that this is as far as I'd be getting - it all seemed too good to be true. And alas it was.
A couple of months or so after receiving my letter from CoLP, our wonderful Government announced 20% budget cuts to the police service. I strongly suspected at that point that it would mean the end of the road for me, despite the City Police being very well funded compared to other forces. Needless to say I was right, it was too good to be true and received a letter from them saying that my application had effectively been binned.
I was quite bitter - I did everything that was asked of me, and they then had the cheek to ask whether I wanted to become a Special with them (even though I'm already a Special with Surrey Police).
Despite the setback, I've had a remarkably good 2011. I started out the year by paying off the last of my debts - it literally took me years to clear and was a huge weight off my shoulders when it was finally gone. It meant I was in a position where I could make choices. I went from being a lodger to renting a nice flat to myself in SW London, and transferred at the same time to the response team at Staines for six months (I've just moved back to my previous role as a S/Sgt on neighbourhoods). And I've bagged myself a lovely girlfriend too and we've been together now for six months.
The one thing that was still in the back of my mind was my job situation - I have a job that pays the bills, but it's not a career. There are lots of different public services that I would be proud to make a career out of, but none are recruiting.
Two months ago I got an e-mail from the London Ambulance Service - the year before I'd expressed an interest in their Emergency Medical Dispatcher position (taking 999 calls and dispatching ambulances). They'd opened recruiting and I had two weeks to submit the forms. I spent the whole weekend on them, ensuring I hit all the essential criteria. I was short-listed and about a month later was invited to attend an assessment centre at their offices in Bow in East London. The assessment centre consisted of a written test, a numerical reasoning test and psychometric testing.
To my delight I passed the assessment, and was invited back to take a keyboard test and an interview. I spent quite a bit of time preparing examples on all the areas that I was told I would need in the interview. When I got there the questions threw me, and I had to think on my feet to come up with different examples for all bar one of the questions. I was convinced I'd failed, but to my shock I received an e-mail the following morning with a provisional job offer (subject to CRB check and references).
The likely (but not confirmed) start date will be in February. It is now extremely unlikely I'll be re-applying to the regulars in the next few years, but I will continue on as a Special in anycase.
Roll on 2012! :pc:
A couple of months or so after receiving my letter from CoLP, our wonderful Government announced 20% budget cuts to the police service. I strongly suspected at that point that it would mean the end of the road for me, despite the City Police being very well funded compared to other forces. Needless to say I was right, it was too good to be true and received a letter from them saying that my application had effectively been binned.
I was quite bitter - I did everything that was asked of me, and they then had the cheek to ask whether I wanted to become a Special with them (even though I'm already a Special with Surrey Police).
Despite the setback, I've had a remarkably good 2011. I started out the year by paying off the last of my debts - it literally took me years to clear and was a huge weight off my shoulders when it was finally gone. It meant I was in a position where I could make choices. I went from being a lodger to renting a nice flat to myself in SW London, and transferred at the same time to the response team at Staines for six months (I've just moved back to my previous role as a S/Sgt on neighbourhoods). And I've bagged myself a lovely girlfriend too and we've been together now for six months.
The one thing that was still in the back of my mind was my job situation - I have a job that pays the bills, but it's not a career. There are lots of different public services that I would be proud to make a career out of, but none are recruiting.
Two months ago I got an e-mail from the London Ambulance Service - the year before I'd expressed an interest in their Emergency Medical Dispatcher position (taking 999 calls and dispatching ambulances). They'd opened recruiting and I had two weeks to submit the forms. I spent the whole weekend on them, ensuring I hit all the essential criteria. I was short-listed and about a month later was invited to attend an assessment centre at their offices in Bow in East London. The assessment centre consisted of a written test, a numerical reasoning test and psychometric testing.
To my delight I passed the assessment, and was invited back to take a keyboard test and an interview. I spent quite a bit of time preparing examples on all the areas that I was told I would need in the interview. When I got there the questions threw me, and I had to think on my feet to come up with different examples for all bar one of the questions. I was convinced I'd failed, but to my shock I received an e-mail the following morning with a provisional job offer (subject to CRB check and references).
The likely (but not confirmed) start date will be in February. It is now extremely unlikely I'll be re-applying to the regulars in the next few years, but I will continue on as a Special in anycase.
Roll on 2012! :pc:
