Police officer profiles

I always wanted to join the police from a very young age. At 15. I came to see a Chief Officer on a career day, who gave me advice to get a good education, travel and get a good view on life before joining. So I did that. I became a special constable for 12 months and joined as a police officer at 25 years old.

I started on response at Redditch and progressed to CID as a detective constable and detective sergeant. I was promoted to sergeant and worked on a change programme and in the control room. I am now an Inspector, firstly covering the Safer Neighbourhood Team at Worcester and now within Force Operations with roles as a Post Incident manager, Tactical Firearms Commander, Bronze Public Order Commander and other roles.

I became a mother a year after getting promoted to Inspector and now have a three year old, but I work full time with a very supporting command team to ensure I have the correct work life balance.

The best things about the role are that every day is different, and working with a great team to make a difference. It's such a supportive environment.

I was previously a senior social worker in child protection, leading on complex investigations, practice development and organised criminality.

Predominately the challenge attracted me to apply to West Mercia Police through the Direct Entry Programme. I wouldn't say that I have always wanted to be a police officer, but I view a career in policing as an opportunity to impact positively on people's lives. I was impressed with West Mercia's focus on vulnerability and this fits with both my experience and passion.

The programme is intense, challenging and rewarding in equal measure. There are long periods where I have been away from my family with the College of Policing. However, this has been mitigated through developing strong relationships with fellow direct entrants across the country and also officers and friends in force.

Due to pressures on other services, policing is in a place where we are coming under increased pressure and having to manage situations, which five or ten years ago we wouldn't have had to. My knowledge and understanding of those services has come in useful so far during this programme. This programme is about bringing in different ways of thinking into policing and although there are set processes and procedures which need to be followed, I believe that difference is key to hold onto.

I feel very privileged to be an Inspector, a direct entrant and above all, a police officer. Being a police officer is now, possibly more than ever, undoubtedly a real challenge. However, it provides an opportunity to engage with people who have experienced a traumatic event or a series of traumatic events and reduce the likelihood of further occurrences of that trauma. The information provided to me as an Inspector is often confusing and I have to assess and make sense of that information to develop a decision. This is often challenging but always stimulating.

I decided I wanted to be an AFO after doing four years in response policing in both Worcestershire and Herefordshire. The one thing that really attracted me to the role was the opportunities that it offers, dealing with serious and organised crime and completing the challenging but rewarding initial firearms course. Being an AFO also means that you are a force resource, which means that you could be attending incidents anywhere across Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, which offers the variety of urban and rural policing.

All of the instructors are approachable, knowledgeable and have a real passion for firearms. I feel that with my added training and equipment that an AFO carries I am in a better position to help protect both the public and my colleagues against the most serious and violent offenders. The role of an AFO is also a dual role alongside being a roads policing officer, which will add even more variety to my working day. I’m expected to deal with fatal and serious road traffic collisions alongside being a firearms officer.

Ultimately, I think being an AFO still means that you are still expected to be a police officer first, but you just have more equipment and training to deal with the higher risk incidents when they happen. However, with the added training that you receive part of the role is to disrupt the most serious offenders in order to protect the public from harm, which is what I joined the police to do.

I previously worked for the Department of Work and Pensions, but I always wanted to be a police officer. I got to a certain age and thought, if I don’t do it now, I never will, so I applied. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else now.

I worked for another force for nine years on Response before I made the move to West Mercia to be closer to home in Bromsgrove. Working in West Mercia is very different, but in a good way. I have found West Mercia to be really supportive, especially welfare-wise.

Working on an Operations Patrol Unit in Roads Policing (OPU) means being on shifts, but I couldn’t go back to working 9–5; you get so much done on your rest days, as it’s so quiet everywhere.

I have been with West Mercia on Response for two years, and I am currently on attachment to OPU. I love the fact that you never know what’s going to happen, as this is a job where anything could land in your lap. However, I’m looking to join the Authorised Firearms section, so wish me luck!

I’ve been with West Mercia Police since I was 16 years old. I originally started on a Careership Training programme and spent 10 years undertaking various staff roles, and having been promoted a few times, I was in a decision making role. This role was training officers in RTC investigation, file building and quality assurance of these. Having attended some RTC scenes with officers, this then inspired me to join as a PC.

I have now been in Roads Policing for 13 years, mainly in North Worcestershire, but I did spend four years with Shropshire OPU, which was fantastic.

I never don’t look forward to going to work. I still enjoy it, I’m still motivated and enthusiastic and want to catch law-breakers all the time. I’ve loved every second of my traffic role and I’ve got the best job on the force!

I was born in England to a white British mother and a black Ugandan father who came to the UK on a scholarship in the 60s to study Accountancy. We left the UK for Uganda in 1972 and arrived in a country that was vastly different to England. I am the youngest of three and lived in Uganda from the age of two until I was nineteen. I spent the crucial years of my upbringing in Uganda, surviving the rise and fall of ruthless dictator Idi Amin and numerous civil wars that cost many lives. The country suffered extensively from political instability, economic deprivation and social injustice. The long term effects were devastating and I witnessed many atrocities, losing family, friends and colleagues through hunger, war and disease.

I was just two years old when we arrived in Uganda and didn't really understand it all, but I faced my own challenges growing up as a child of dual heritage. I was often made to feel negatively different in many ways, not least with hurtful comments made about my heritage. But in spite of all of this, I learnt from an early age to be courageous, resourceful, resilient, kind, compassionate and respectful, qualities that have carried me through my personal and professional journey.

I was 19 when I returned to the UK and found myself in a world that was vastly different to the one I had grown up in. I joined the police service in 2002, thirteen years after I returned to the UK. I decided that I needed a more fulfilling career where I could make a positive difference, having worked a number of previous jobs in catering, engineering, retail and advertising. So here I am 19 years later as Chief Inspector - I can't tell you how proud I am of myself, especially when I reflect upon my experiences growing up in a war-torn country at a time when there were virtually no prospects.

I have largely enjoyed my policing career to date and I am extremely proud of what I have achieved. I know that as an organisation, we have genuinely turned a corner. The death of George Floyd on 25 May 2020 in Minneapolis, the Black Lives Matter movement that followed, the national drive from the NPCC and the College of Policing, and the commitment made by the force, has led to a real push for policing to be more representative. There is however still more to do but I will keep aiming for the stars because I might just land on the moon!