Licking the Lid of Life....my esoteric diary

janetelizabeth said:
Ha ha Sam...what I actually said was "Been married 20 yrs so far and he's a keeper!! :p

I think you're very wise and have a great plan there for your future career direction. We have Police Community Support Officers over here in my part of East Sussex. I know some people don't have any respect for them but IMO they are doing a very worthwhile job on a voluntary basis.
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Community Support officers aren't Specials. They are 2 separate things entirely.

Community supports are fully paid members of staff with the job of working within the local community with not many powers but in my opinion, do a worthwhile job none the less
Specials, on the other hand are voluntary 'fully fledged' police officers. They have all the training of a 'real' officer and all the powers but don't get paid.

Sadly becoming a Special doesn't 'leap frog' you into becoming a paid member of staff which is crazy in my opinion. I mean if you have gone through all the training and you are doing the job for free, then you are good enough to be paid!!
Definitely look into Sam, it a worthwhile job and very rewarding I'm sure

I worked for Surrey Police for several years up until very recently and I think if I had started working there when I was a bit younger, I definitely would have looked at becoming a PC
 
I know its not part of the requirement nor does it leapfrog you as such but I also know that many forces, albeit London based, will now only recruit from their existing pool of specials before going external. Being as Sussex is such a large force I could well imagine them going a similar route in the future and would hate to be disadvantaged rather than looking for a specific advantage if you catch my drift :) I'm not even sure that's what I want but I thought it would be a nice worthwhile thing to do regardless. Plus I'd get a radio. Bonus! ;)
 
Absolutely....go for it! I worked with a few people that were police staff and then Specials in their 'free' time. You have to be able to dedicate 16 hours per month, unless its changed in the months I've been left!
One colleague I worked with was a Special for Sussex and worked with Surrey as paid staff. He applied to become a Special for Surrey but was turned down and yet left earlier on in the year because he was accepted by Surrey to join as a PC!! Work that one out!! He didn't make the grade though and is back working in my old office now! The mind boggles!

Sussex and Surrey are almost joined now as a police service, so many departments have collaborated in a bid to save money, so it makes sense for them to use already trained people to save even more!
 
This is good for that too, testing the waters in terms of whether I cut the mustard. The more I think about it the more I think it would be a good career choice for me. Although husband is concerned about the impact on family time as it were. However I can't fit everything around havingn a family forever. Surely it's better that I am happy and content in what I do than fitting in and resenting every second of my working day as I do now! Does that make me a tad selfish? Lentil, knowing what you know would you recommend working with the police, in any capacity, for someone with a young family?
 
Hello,
Have to say I agree with you you need to look at the long term as well. Your daughter won't always be young.
Cookie21 is a police officer may be worth talking to her


Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins.com
 
lickthelid said:
This is good for that too, testing the waters in terms of whether I cut the mustard. The more I think about it the more I think it would be a good career choice for me. Although husband is concerned about the impact on family time as it were. However I can't fit everything around havingn a family forever. Surely it's better that I am happy and content in what I do than fitting in and resenting every second of my working day as I do now! Does that make me a tad selfish? Lentil, knowing what you know would you recommend working with the police, in any capacity, for someone with a young family?
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I have to say, SPolice were fairly good in regards to flexible working hours especially if you had small people to consider. Flexible as in, applying for hours to suit, rather than flexible meaning, I'll start work early then I can finish early. Obviously, you can't do that in an operational/PC role working set shifts. My job fell under the umbrella of operational and I changed my hours to suit several times over the nine years I worked there...and I don't have children! I think working for the Police they have to be 'seen' to accommodate a good work/home life balance for their staff, though I think that's pretty much a legal requirement now, though of course, if it doesn't suit 'business needs' then they don't have to oblige.
There are a lot of officers that have young families, I suppose it no different to juggling any other job with kids, though of course, there might be shift work to consider? Like you say, your daughter isn't always going to be young and I definitely agree that you have to be happy in your work or else that could have a detrimental effect on your daughter anyway, so you have to weigh it all up.
There is nothing worse than being unhappy in your job, we spend so much time at them!

I guess, ideally if you can sign up for becoming a Special, its a great way of testing the water, as it were.
 
I have passed all the online assessments so far and now need to create a profile application. I scored 95% on the first one which tested my suitability for the role so that's a good start although I was less strong on the second one which was a judgemental test. I have to wonder how much of that is due to drop in confidence due to the way things are going at work. It may not pan out but I owe it to myself to at least try. :)

on another note my food situation is just poor. I'm not being deliberately self sabotaging but I am being incredibly lasseize-fairh about it all and that's just as bad! Grrr.
 
Sounds like you are making progress. Have you looked to see if Sussex are enrolling for officers at the moment? If you are serious, might you consider going straight for that?

As for the food situation...it must be the time of the year, I'm the same :(
I think its actually more difficult to lose a small amount of weight, not least because its hard shift the last bit but also, if you are not very overweight, there's less incentive too. I seem to be able to maintain, but losing is so hard!!
 
I've looked and from what I can see they aren't but this is a good test of ability. Plus I have visible tattoos and needed to make sure I passed the test on those. They are not lurid or offensive but are visible in that one is on my inside forearm and another on my wrist. Now I know they would be acceptable so that's another hurdle over! :)
 
Haha...the tattoo thing is funny. Surrey brought that 'rule' in across the board last year. ..in line with Sussex, another tell tale sign that there will be a proper merge at some point! There was uproar! People in offices, non customer facing staff even had to cover up. Ridiculous. Even officers said, quite often it was a talking point with people when they were out and about. Far from being a negative thing, they were actually quite positive.
One of my friends had to wear a glove all the time to cover her very pretty tattoo on her hand......and she worked in an office!! Absolutely crazy. Another had to wear a plaster on her foot to cover hers!! lol And wo betide if you were caught without your cover up, it could result in a disciplinary! Seriously! I was very vocal on the works forum...and I don't even have any tattoos! lol
Honestly, that's the side of the working for the police I do not like/miss at all, all the 'political correctness' ..it sucks!
 
I can understand both sides on the tattoo issue. Obviously they are a part of me but I can respect the need for professionalism at the same time and as they are as individual as the person who sports them they can be interpreted by others in the same way. :)
 
STS this week but actually that's an achievement ;)
 
Seriously though. I'm back on it. This week. I want to be comfortable enough to loosen the reins at Christmas a little. I'm thinking we have what, 5 weeks? That's a possible 10lbs! Whoop. Here I go.

On on another note I have been asked to interview for the special police thingy :) makes me nervous!! Not to mention that there is a health check including BMI and a bleep test fitness assessment. Argh!!
 
lickthelid said:
Seriously though. I'm back on it. This week. I want to be comfortable enough to loosen the reins at Christmas a little. I'm thinking we have what, 5 weeks? That's a possible 10lbs! Whoop. Here I go.

On on another note I have been asked to interview for the special police thingy :) makes me nervous!! Not to mention that there is a health check including BMI and a bleep test fitness assessment. Argh!!
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Ooh good luck with your interview, and bleep test! I've heard they are quite difficult but I suppose it depends on your level of fitness. Mine being similar to a sloth, I'd probably struggle ;-)
Good news on the maintain too- I'm going up instead of down just lately!
Plenty of time to lose before the festivities.. X
 
Congrats on the interview and good luck!
 
Thanks :)

Im on day 4 of 100% on plan.

I like to think of it at food sober since November 17th 2014.

It's the husbands birthday next Thursday. He has been grilling me about what I have bought him. He hates surprises. So I always make sure to keep it a secret from him. It's the bonus annoyance value. ;)
 
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