Profiles - Police staff

I have always had a keen interest in developments within fingerprint and DNA to solve crime. I used to work for the Metropolitan Police as Computer Aided Dispatch Officer. We controlled units via radio, sending officers to incidents, prioritising the incidents as they came in on our screen, liaising with officers and sending dog units or helicopters where needed.

I moved to Shropshire when I got married, so I looked for a role to remain within the police, as I am extremely proud of our forces. I joined in 2013 working within the Safeguarding Department, and I recently joined the Fingerprint Bureau as a Biometric Officer.

The very best things about my role are the variety of work and the great team. Working for West Mercia Police does give me a sense of pride for the work we do as a unit and the continued commitment to do the best job possible for the public. There's real job satisfaction.

I joined West Mercia in January 2020, entering the control room during the start of lockdown after my initial training. I spent 18 months call taking, where I continued to learn and challenge myself with the variety of calls I received. In December 2021 I completed my training as a dispatcher and am now enjoying the new experiences that come with this role.

The control room is full of great people who are always willing to help, support and guide you through difficult incidents. In addition, having friends around you makes the work environment much easier. Within the control room it is fast paced so your shift goes really quickly, and I enjoy feeling like I am making a difference to the community.

I joined the police due to my family working within this force, they explained the benefits of working for the police such as good pension schemes, shift allowance, Blue Light discount.

My current aim is to continue developing in the role as a dispatcher and assess my options in the future with West Mercia Police.

For as long as I can remember, I have always struggled with the frequently asked question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Now I am 24, I still find myself unable to answer that question, and that’s okay. All I have ever known is that I want to make a difference, I want to help people. Having struggled with mental health in my early teens, I found myself being drawn towards psychology – I wanted to sit on the chair opposite the patient and help them through their daily struggles, because I knew how it felt to hit rock bottom. Hence my education being psychology-driven post sixth-form. I graduated with a BSc in Psychology in November 2018 and went on a volunteer mental health placement in Sri Lanka in December 2018. Spending my first ever Christmas away from my family of ten was an incredible challenge but there, I helped people in the Sri Lankan community every day. I saw poverty you only ever see on shows such as Children in Need, in both the medical and psychological world. I worked with people who had deep mental health issues: drug addiction, suicidal ideations, physical disabilities with little resources and more, while trying to adapt to life in Sri Lanka with strangers from around the world. The projects we did made the community smile, and it cemented my passion in helping people.

I never planned on joining the police; I had thought about it but that is as far as it went. I was jobless when I came back from Sri Lanka, and saw a vacancy from West Mercia Police seeking an Enquiry Officer at front counter. I didn’t really know what that entailed, but went for it anyway, because why not? I knew the police had a lot to offer and was a respected profession, regardless of position. I was successful in my application and one of my first thoughts when I got to headquarters for interview was “Why is everyone white?”. That sounds terrible to put on paper, but I saw so many people wandering and never saw anyone who I would class as a minority like myself. I wasn’t surprised to be honest, because I had only ever seen white police officers. Little did I know when I got “in”, there were many people from the BAME community in varying roles.

During the interview, I remember being told “You will be the face of West Mercia, dealing with the public face-on” and I relayed that to my Dad, who is Black African. He was so happy and said, “My baby will be the first non-white face of the police”, of course metaphorically and before I was even offered the role. I was indeed the only White and Black African member of staff across all of West Mercia’s front counters, which did surprise me.

Regardless, I was able to fulfil my passion in helping people every day, whether that be via a phone call when helping control room with demand, a domestic abuse victim attending the counter in tears needing immediate resources and support, or simply talking to a homeless individual who needed a shoulder to turn to.

I never had any racial issues at front counter, which I was grateful for, as I had experienced it in every single other job I had held, from being called “the coloured girl” to being told “it’s blacks like you who ruin our country”, to being mimicked because of my Afro. I was told from day one on the job that police do not tolerate racism and to press the panic alarm if a member of public was ever racist. Thankfully, that never happened and I turned to the B-ME Network when Black Lives Matter exploded following George Floyd’s murder in the US. I felt a little anxious being public facing in uniform, because I felt those who are anti-police AND racist had a basis to potentially question what I was doing behind the counter. Again, no such questions were asked but the point was, I had a network to turn to should I need it for support – which I did.

The network actually reached out to me, and it’s because I am of an ethnic minority that emails were sent to myself stating that the network is there to support me if I feel affected by the policing issues in America. I couldn’t believe there was such a huge push on wellbeing for the BAME community and that is when I realised I need to be part of the B-ME Network and meet others in the policing family who are also part of this community. I have found PC Suki Gosal and Supt Amrik Klair particularly inspiring, after hearing of their journeys through West Mercia Police, which only continues to flourish.

I have been with West Mercia a week shy of one year and I know my career will always be within the police force. Without the B-ME Network, I wouldn’t have known how hard police are working to recruit and attain an ethnically balanced force, including officers, staff and volunteers across all departments. I would never have known the support it has to offer to BAME members of public looking to become part of West Mercia’s family, and I would never have understood the importance of using your voice to help demonstrate to others that being of ethnic minority is never a barrier in wanting to join such a rewarding career which offers ample opportunities to all, regardless of race, colour, gender and beliefs.

I am so proud to be part of West Mercia, and thankful that I work in an environment that only seeks to support and develop me both professionally and personally. After 10 months at front counter, I was offered a positon as an Analyst at headquarters, where I will continue to develop, strive to reach my potential and use my voice to help whoever may be listening.

So, what do YOU want to be when you grow up? Just remember, we never stop growing, there is no right or wrong answer and if you want to be part of West Mercia, go for it. The only barrier will be your mindset, the rest is out here waiting for you.

I applied for this job with West Mercia Police with the aim of working to high standards and gaining a high level of qualifications.

My course assessor is extremely pleased with my progress, as I've completed 95% of my coursework, with six months to go until the end of my second year. My work colleagues are very encouraging and supportive with my aspirations and progress. I am happy with my job and enjoy coming to work, to improve my knowledge.

Having this job I hope to gain my qualifications, a vast array of knowledge working with different manufacturers and the experience to possibly run my own vehicle workshops in the future.

My time at university involved some work experience at Worcester County Council and Worcester City Council, so I was drawn to the public sector. I volunteered as an Independent Custody Visitor, which gave me a glimpse of policing. My best mate's dad was a police sergeant, his mum worked as police staff, and a neighbour was a detective, which filled me with stories of policing. West Mercia Police is also a big organisation, so I thought there might be career progression, and it was Worcester way, so I kind of knew the area. The vacancy sounded like a lot of desktop research, which I felt I was good at.

I joined as an Environmental Scanning Assistant on a fixed term contract in October 2012 and after a few months I was made permanent - I have just celebrated my seventh year here. I have dabbled in many areas and projects. I am hoping to apply for a business planning officer post, fingers crossed.

The best thing about my job is the people I work with. Professionally and personally, we have been through some much together and achieved so much. They have enhanced my social life.

West Mercia's HQ is a beautiful site to work at. I also have a police station within walking distance of my house, so I can work there if needs be. I also like the Bluelight discount card.

I get to do random volunteering such as filming, photography, modelling, firearms stooging and spending a day with frontline officers. I get to see policing from a different perspective, not necessarily based on a member of the public's perspective. I also occasionally get to positively influence strategy and policy.

Before I joined West Mercia Police, I was working full-time as a bar manager in a busy pub/restaurant. I knew this was not a forever job for me, but I gained so much customer service experience, it helped me build up the confidence to begin searching for a serious career. I spent one year at college and found it wasn't for me, as I didn't feel comfortable spending every day in a classroom. I wanted to learn in a working environment, which is what attracted me to the apprenticeship. I worked towards a recognised qualification, along with having the opportunity to understand the way a business works, and implementing what I learnt during my time at college gaining my Level 3 CIPD Qualification.

As an HR Apprentice, I saw the whole process of recruitment within a large organisation, the stages of this and how our process differs from others. Additionally, I have been able to gain experience of a busy office environment, taking on my own responsibilities and liaising with other departments within the force.

Within my apprenticeship, I had the opportunity to see all aspects of HR, including working with the Recruitment Team and the HR Service Centre. This was a brilliant opportunity, as I established which aspect of HR I prefer and also gained an understanding of the realms of Human Resources. Many opportunities such as these experience sessions arose due to the commitment and helpfulness of the HR Team.

Since beginning employment with West Mercia Police in January 2018, I have successfully completed my HR Apprenticeship, gaining a Level 3 CIPD qualification. I am now employed as a full-time HR Assistant, working within the Police Officer Recruitment Team. This is a new challenge which I am thoroughly enjoying.

My apprenticeship helped me gain the relevant skills and experience to succeed in my current role. I am grateful I chose this path and would recommend the apprenticeship scheme to all.

Before I worked for West Mercia, I worked in a mental health facility, caring for male offenders with a variety of mental health issues. I was only 18 or 19 at the time and it was an extremely scary place to spend half of your life in. I had been in physical situations there a couple of times, which had made me feel nervous, and although I carried on, I knew that this was not the job for me.

I wanted to stay in a professional environment that worked with the public, customers and criminals, but I wanted to gain a qualification and work up the ladder to higher positions and more opportunities. The police was always something that always really interested me, I just never thought that I would even be considered to work for them. I initially didn’t want to do an apprenticeship. I already had GCSEs and an NVQ, so I didn’t think I needed to, but it has given me a new range of skills and qualifications that I can take with me into future opportunities. Weirdly, the job in Firearms Licensing appeared on my Facebook feed the day after we had a firearms incident at my previous job, and so I just thought it was fate!

An apprenticeship is an excellent way of gaining experience in a real professional working environment at the same time as earning a brilliant wage. Doing an apprenticeship with West Mercia Police has benefitted my communication skills massively, as well as giving me the confidence to be my own person and make trusted decisions that I may not have even attempted in the past. West Mercia Police employs an excellent bunch of staff that have always made me feel welcomed and valued within the force. From my first day in the office, I have been thrown into work which was extremely beneficial when learning new processes. None of the staff here ever doubt you or your choices, which shows that between colleagues there is a massive support network. To anyone considering an apprenticeship, do it! Getting a qualification, whilst working and being paid almost as much as the normal staff members, in a happy and exciting environment? It’s a win - win.

Personally, my greatest achievement whilst completing the apprenticeship has been building my confidence and finding myself as a person. I have always been a talkative person who is willing to give anything a go, but confidence in completing tasks has always been a massive issue for me. I think this is mainly because no one has ever trusted me to complete tasks or work without being told what to do. The Firearms Licensing Team from the word go has encouraged us to make our own choices as long as we were capable of backing those decisions up.

My main fear was knowing that the work we do is highly important: the smallest of mistakes can cause the biggest problems. However, without getting things right and completing them independently, we would constantly worry about making mistakes. The staff in the Firearms Licensing Unit have been so supportive with both our apprenticeship work and our office work, which has made us feel a lot more relaxed. Being trusted to make decisions by myself and knowing that these decisions have turned out to be correct, has helped me gain confidence within both independent and leadership skills.

Doing the apprenticeship has given me the motivation to work towards a qualification that I don’t already have. It has also helped me to understand that the force is a brilliant working environment, with numerous opportunities in a range of different environments. It has allowed me to be both independent and work in teams, as well as giving me the opportunity to assist with projects and deliver training to other members of my team.

I feel that the whole apprenticeship so far has been an amazing opportunity. I have the privilege of coming to work every morning and sitting with a brilliant range of colleagues, working on tasks and projects which I wouldn’t necessarily get the chance to elsewhere, and not dread it. Being able to look forwards to going to work every day is a massive thing to me, and so having that within the job I’m in is the best thing about my journey here in the Firearms Licensing Unit.

I highly recommend doing an apprenticeship! I previously attended sixth form, and around six months prior to my exams I realised it wasn’t for me. I didn’t enjoy it and at the time I was volunteering a day a week at Worcester Police Station with Youth Engagement for work experience, through being a police cadet. Since being an apprentice, I have learnt a lot more than what I ever did at sixth form, because I actually enjoy what I am doing on a day to day basis."I enjoy all of the benefits of being an apprentice, such as earning a salary whilst working and studying, and having the experience of a full time job in such a supportive unit. It is very easy to contact people in other areas of the force and get offers to shadow them. This has helped develop both my knowledge and experiences within the organisation.

Since working in the Firearms Licensing Unit, I have developed my independency when working alone, and having to make a lot of my own judgements. I have also developed my confidence when working as a team, and allowing myself to have an input in group discussions without feeling awkward or embarrassed.

I have learnt how to overcome challenges which can come naturally, or ones which have been set by senior members within the team, in a calm and approachable manner. Previously, I think I would have panicked and not known what to do.

I applied for sixth form after finishing my GCSE’s in 2017. After a year and three or four months in, I decided I needed to move on as I wasn’t enjoying it. I previously applied for other apprenticeships which I didn’t manage to get, but it didn’t stop me from applying for the Firearms Licensing one. When I saw this apprenticeship, I thought it would be an excellent idea to help me get my ‘foot in the door’, as being in the police has been a dream job for me.

Since the age of 13 or 14, I had my heart set on being in the police. In 2017, I was accepted into West Mercia’s Police Cadets, which I loved the idea of. Over the two years of being a cadet, I put in over 150 voluntary hours and a lot of teamwork, and attended weekly meetings. Being a cadet enabled me to build my confidence of talking to people, building friendships and having the experience of a policing background. I finished my two years of being a cadet in September 2019 and passed out. I have now gone back to cadets as a Cadet Leader, which I currently do alongside the apprenticeship.

If considering an apprenticeship with West Mercia, I would definitely recommend joining as I have enjoyed so many aspects of it!

I joined West Mercia Police in 2015 because I needed a change and working for the police had always been a goal of mine. After an initial period as a Contact Handler I moved over to a dispatcher role, which involves using radios to dispatch officers to live incidents. I really enjoyed this role and the team working aspect of it.

I did this role for three and a half years and in this time I gained experience dispatching motorway incidents on our main force channel and I also trained new Contact Handlers and Dispatcher.

I was given an opportunity as a temporary supervisor in 2018, which followed with a permanent role in 2019 and a move of teams, where I have remained. In this time I have had the opportunity to become an Airwave Tactical Advisor and also complete a supervisor qualification.

I have been a supervisor for over three years and I can honestly say I love my job. I have a really good team, no day is ever the same and I feel satisfied that we are protecting members of the public every day. I think my journey shows that there is good development and progression opportunities within our force.

I joined West Mercia Police in November 2021. Working in the OCC is interesting, fast paced and challenging. No two days are ever the same which I like, as you never know what call you are going to get next which keeps me on my toes.

I have wanted to work for the police for a long time, as I wanted to be able to help make a difference to people in some way, and now I feel I do and it gives me a buzz.

I didn’t come from a policing background and I found that when I joined there was lots to learn. To begin with it felt like information overload but the training I received was excellent and the trainers were really friendly and put me at ease. It really does all click into place!!

I am really grateful to be part of a team and I feel fully supported by everyone in the OCC. I am proud to be a part of West Mercia Police and feel I have come a long way in a short space of time, and I look forward to seeing what opportunities are offered to me in the future.  

I have always had a strong connection to the force, as I was born in the police houses known as the Crescent due to my late father being a serving police officer within West Mercia Police. I was also keen to progress a career in the police in a support staff role, as I wanted to work in an organisation that was close to my heart and played such a big part in my life through my father. He always took great pride in his role, which ultimately led me to seek a role within the force. I was and still am keen to secure a long-term position within the force.

I joined in January 2000 and completed 10 years in the Central Data Unit (CDU) as a Clerical Assistant, before being given the opportunity of spending 12 months with the Making the Difference Team in the role of Personal Assistant.  Whilst doing this role my post in CDU was deleted, therefore my role within the Making the Difference team was deemed to be 'like for like' for a position of Resource Coordinator within Transport, I started this role in 2011. Within this post I had line manager responsibility of four staff. I remained in this post until Business Support was formed in February 2015 and I was successful in securing my current role as Senior Administrator with Business Support Central. In this role, I now line manage 11 staff.

My busy, varied workload allows me to liaise with internal staff and officers at all levels. I get a great deal of satisfaction from coming to work and carrying out a role I really enjoy. More recently, I have been given the opportunity to assist or chair some student police officer interviews; I have found this task very rewarding and it has given me an insight into the importance of bringing new and keen recruits into the force, building on the roles created by other experienced officers. I have also sat alongside officers of varying ranks while doing the interviews, which I also found rewarding and totally different from my day-to-day role. I feel very proud to work for West Mercia Police and always strive to work to the best of my ability.

I really enjoy feeling part of a force that takes pride in protecting people from harm and making a difference to everyone within its surrounding communities. The force has always led with confidence, which is evident from the decisions being made at the top level by the Chief Officer team down to Senior Managers, together with the fact the force is always seeking to find better ways of working. If you are willing to work hard there is plenty of opportunity to build and develop key skills within the force to allow you to progress further. I am under no illusion that further change is going to occur in the future, but I very much hope that I can be part of it for many years to come.