Being a new recruit… what does that look and feel like?
Importantly, you should feel immense pride. You are embarking on a job like no other. You are going to be working with others committed to serving the communities and people that use our railways for both business and pleasure, ensuring that they are safe every day.
But it doesn’t come easy, you have to WANT to do ‘the job’ and give everything you can to be the Guardians of the Railway we all expect from you. That expectation starts before you even walk through the door at Spring House, our National training centre in Islington, North London.
In the weeks leading up to your start date, consider how you are going to tackle and succeed in the classrooms and on the practice floors of Spring House. The learning starts from day 1 and therefore you have to be prepared to ‘go back to school’ and if you haven’t been in education for many months or years, consider how you may approach the studying. It is an advantage to try and liaise with friends and family who have been through higher education or an adult education setting in recent times and lean on them for study techniques and coping mechanisms for studying many subject areas in a relatively small amount of time, you may have some of your own that you can rely on and share with classmates also.
The course is 20 weeks long and the time flies by, the law and legislation, powers and procedures and officer safety teachings are relentless. You have to be prepared to be able to switch from one piece of legislation teaching to another and show a willingness to put the theory into practice during rigorous, but fun practical assessments. These combine the understanding and application of the knowledge with the ability to keep yourself and others safe, communicate effectively whilst making decisions for a suitable outcome within the boundaries of the law that are set out for you.
How are your communication skills?
Are you confident to speak in front of others, be able to deliver news and Police procedures such as the arrest process with authority knowing the powers you have?
Do you have the ability to be curious, ask the difficult questions, be ‘professionally curious’ and look beyond the obvious? All these traits will help you with the important task of protecting the vulnerable and bringing perpetrators to justice by supporting other agencies and the criminal justice system with your probing, detailed case file building and intelligence reports.
Can you show compassion and be emotionally aware of the those you are the dealing with and the situations they are in? You may be that person who can help when no one else can or is willing to. Your interactions go along way and can be a real positive if done well.
Where are your moral and ethical values at? We have been let down by many colleagues who do not uphold the ethical and moral values that are so highly regarded in policing, we do not want a repeat of those individuals as we try to rebuild and regain trust from those that we serve and protect, after all, we police by consent and it needs to stay that way and therefore we need the right officers to make this happen.
Being at Spring House and being a new recruit is one of the best times of being an officer, you are learning a whole new world of law and order in a safe, secure, inclusive learning environment amongst others who feel similar to you about the career you are about to undertake. Use the 20 weeks to make mistakes, learn from those mistakes and grow into the role of Constable with confidence and assurance so when you get to your postings you hit the ground running and become an asset to the BTP and all your colleagues.
You will always be supported in your learning at Spring House with a very committed, diligent and enthusiastic recruit training team behind you, encouraging you and giving you all the tools you need to be able to graduate from the Recruit Training Programme ready to go into the next phase of your learning with your appointed tutor. The learning environment is inclusive and supportive and any workplace challenges or personal challenges that may arise are dealt with in confidence and with compassion in a timely manner to ensure that your learning experience and ability to succeed isn’t compromised.
It is important to remember however that the onus is on you, as the student officer, to be the best you can be! The support is there from the recruit training team and others within the organisation from a health and wellbeing and learning perspective, but the best results and your learning experience is driven by you. You need to strive to be the best you can be, use every day to learn, become better, more confident and assured in the role that you will take on 20 weeks down the line. Remember, every day is a school day, and we don’t stop learning and mistakes will be made but members of public will expect you to be able to competently carry out your role as a Police Constable, be it week 1 or year 35. It is how you learn from those mistakes, why you made the decision you did that will mould you as a cop and allow you to flourish in your policing career.
The course takes a blended approach, you will be asked to study from afar as well as at Spring House, so some of you may have to spend time away from home Monday to Friday, but don’t worry, your care is catered for in our dedicated suites at The Helix in Wembley. When you are not at Spring House be prepared, have a suitable study area and the ‘space’ to be able to dedicate the time required to achieve the best results for you. There is support from the BTP given, so ensure you speak with recruitment if matters of this nature arise.
Take it from me, Policing is the best job in the world, you may make that decision to join the best job in the world, if you do, don’t waste it.
Very best of luck in your aspirations to join myself and many others in protecting the public on the rail networks on the UK.
