Degree Holder Entry Programme (DHEP)

Your learning over 2-years will include classroom based training, coupled with online digital learning together with practical experience that you'll gain working as a police officer on shifts within the policing teams in either Herefordshire, Shropshire, Telford or Worcestershire.

You will join your new colleagues at a local police station to respond to incidents, investigate crime, take part in community engagement and help problem solve some of the biggest challenges our communities face.

We will support you throughout your learning. You will be provided with a dedicated Tutor Constable, who will be your first point of contact, along with your fellow policing colleagues and your line manager who will guide and advise you during your training.

In the final year of your course you will have the opportunity to specialise in either Advanced Response, Roads Policing and Communities, to work directly within the communities we serve as a frontline Police Officer or in Advanced Investigations, Intelligence and Information if you are looking to become a Detective.

Whichever route you undertake you will have achieved a Level 6 (graduate diploma) qualification in Professional Policing Practice and you can set out on a career path that could see you specialise as a detective, firearms officer, dog handler, work in traffic or be the trusted, familiar face of West Mercia Police in the community

As a full-time student police officer, you will be able to build upon the degree you have already gained, earning a starting salary of £29,907 whilst learning the crucial skills and practices to become a fully qualified Police Officer.

There are many opportunities to progress through the ranks and/or specialise in an area of policing that interests you after you have finished your programme.

Whichever direction you decide to take your policing career, we will support you and help you to develop into the best officer you can be.

Upon successful completion of your probation period, the following career path is available. You will also have the opportunity to specialise, whether this be in a Neighbourhood Policing Team where a more collaborative community approach is required or as a detective, investigating more complex crime.

In addition to the standard PC entry requirements, we require candidates wishing to undertake the DHEP route to have:

• Achieved, or are due to graduate in the year you are applying, with a bachelor’s degree or higher