Police Inspectors - what do they do?

[anonymous-user]

[redacted]

[anonymous-user]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Hello. The issue you have is the Inspector role is still quite operational (some roles more than others) and trying to learn operational policing from that top down view would be very challenging.

I'd prefer a direct entry Superintendent to a direct entry Inspector as I can see how the service may benefit from outside injection from people whom are going to looking pretty much purely at the strategic aspects of the service.

As a compromise, I support accelerated promotion schemes to get the most capable to the Inspector within a few years, with a minimum of two years as a Constable (as occurs now).

mel said:

Police Officers need to take off the blinkers and open their minds to realise that just perhaps they can learn something and perhaps there are individuals out there that can bring lots of best practise, cost savings and efficiency increases to the job they believe they own because they've been institutionalised for an entire career. Perhaps if you learnt from someone with experience of how Amazon get that parcel you ordered at 10pm on your doorstep within 12 hours or how the AA get a patrol to you within half an hour whilst operating with minimal manpower you would see more similarities than you credit between a hard pressed shift of 4 officers covering a town centre and the private sector. Perhaps 101 might get answered once in a while and perhaps someone in a uniform might actually be able to attend a burglary sooner than three days later if at all.

I would never say there is no place for internal career progression but you will never attract the best from industry that you can learn from if you tell them they're expected to spend 2 years as a Special or PCSO before applying, they've got to spend another 2 as a glorified gofor and will be paid sub £30K. We're talking positions for commercially experienced Graduates, often with several years management experience, in their 30's+ and often with families and mortgages. They would dismiss the prospect of the traditional entry route within seconds.

You're talking about strategic roles, not really operational ones. A businessman / woman can parachute in and manage finances, contracts, HR in the NHS, but they'd struggle to be a Doctor without the education and experience.

[anonymous-user]

A word about "Digital Forensics" which was mentioned earlier - I would be very careful there if you're tempted.

First there is a massive oversupply of grads because it looks really smart on Uni prospectuses. I was tempted myself after 20-odd years in IT. It's a niche market which is affected by police funding cuts just like any other department. We did a techie recruitment drive recently and we got way more people with digital forensics degrees than more conventional degrees.

Secondly having spoken to a number of people who've actually done the job, you will most likely spent almost all your time cracking phones and PCs to find kiddy porn. It's a horrible, horrible job. There may be openings out there which don't involve so much of that but tread carefully.