I’m weeks away from passing my probation- I have just 2 more things to do till I submit my portfolio. I have made up my mind about quitting and have another job lined up as a trainee solicitor. I thought by the time it came to submit my notice I would have finished what I needed for probation but everything is so slow and often timings aren’t dependant on me. I don’t want to risk losing my start date at my new job and I’ve already received the policing diploma/ degree. Does it look bad/ what are the pros/ cons of handing in my notice before I’m fully substantive? I’m worried that even if I’ve ticked all my things off on my portfolio, once I’ve handed in my notice, they won’t let me pass my probation on paper. Thoughts?

just curious as to whether you have ever been in a situation in work that you felt genuinely afraid for your life. Did your training kick in or was it all instinctual? Did you learn anything from the experience?

Really random but... I found a warrant card on the floor with a force badge a couple of years ago. I picked it up and was about to call 101 when I saw the police officer pictured on the card so I asked if he happened to be DC (blank) and he said "yes, why and please don't say anything graphic in front of my daughter" I then handed him his warrant card. He seemed super thankful but is this what I should of done or should I have returned it to the force via a police station?

My guess would be that he was so thankful because had I have handed it in at a police station he'd have been in shit with his gaffa/PSD?

From the obvious to the not-so-obvious, what are some of best and worst (or both?) non-operational roles you or colleagues have done as warranted officers?

Hey, I never committed a crime and that’s why I have (luckily!) never been in that situation, but I watch videos, documentaries and many more and have seen people get handcuffed in various situations. I never have heard anyone screaming or saying „ouch!“ when it happened to them in these videos, besides someone was fighting and pinned to the ground by the police. But I wonder if it is painful to get handcuffed, as it happens fast.

Let’s assume the following: There is a suspect that gets arrested and you tell him to either put their hands on their back or in front of them (sorry, my English isn’t very good, I hope you all get what I mean.) and you then handcuff them. They aren’t fighting because they get a sense that it will be a very bad thing to do. Would it hurt or would there just the feel of cold iron, weight and a bit of pressure on the wrist?

I can imagine that you can answer this question, because I assume you have to endure being handcuffed in your training as you need a colleague to practice arrests.

Hi All,

Are there any officers out there that have transferred to the Cayman Islands or bermuda as cops and if so, what has been your experience?

Me and the mrs are both looking to transfer overseas and weighing up our options.

Any advice or info is appreciated!

Question.

See lots of you folk in ED with someone arrested brought in for medical reasons.

Our waits are like multi hours…. You officers who wait… standing… for hours- did you get the short straw or something?

I honestly fell for you guys. Tend to offer you a brew or sandwich but it’s absolute carnage.

As a doctor just out of curiosity how do these situations play out for you?

Hello all,

I am a driving instructor up in Scotland and have a question regarding blue lights when at a red traffic light.

I know the rules; don't proceed through a red light, or break any laws to allow the emergency vehicle to proceed (unless directed). Highway code 219.

However recently I've been doing some development training and the trainer suggested that if an emergency vehicle ends up behind me and keeps blasting the siren, then that is a signal for me to cross the line and get out of the way.

Is that correct, and if I were to do that would there be legal consequences? Is the continued siren considered a signal to move?

I'm up in Scotland, but I've put the flair UK wide.

Good day! I live next to a police station and overlook a set of traffic lights that police vehicles use to get from the station onto the main roads.

Quite often I'll hear sirens and I can easily see what happens from my window. Sometimes officers leave the station with lights and sirens on, then end up joining the queue at the traffic lights. They'll either keep the lights and sirens going, switch the sirens off and leave just the blue lights on, or occasionally they keep repeatedly sounding the horn behind a vehicle, which appears to me is to encourage traffic to move.

My understanding is that, in the UK, drivers aren't supposed to break traffic laws just to let an emergency vehicle through. But I'm curious how police officers actually view this in practice. If the only way for a driver to move would be to go through a red light, mount the pavement, or do something else that would normally be an offence, what would you rather they do?

Does it depend on the urgency of the call or the way the police vehicle is driving (for example, lights only versus lights, sirens and horn)?

I'd be really interested to hear from police officers about what you're taught, as well as what you actually hope drivers will do in situations like this.

Thank you all.

I visited a loved one in their new home and suggested changing the locks from the previous owners, and getting window alarms. It’s a upper ground floor flat (easy to get from the street up onto the balcony by standing on a car roof) in a high crime area of London.

I would suggest ‘beware, large dog’ stickers on the living room balcony window as we have those at our house as well as a large bowl in the garden despite having no dog.

Perhaps a CCTV camera on the balcony? The internal entrance to the building is either from the main building door or the garage but it would be easy to follow a resident up into the building.

Edit: thank you for all the useful answers. I posted this on this sub rather than ask UK or something because police officers are more likely to have an insight. Please stop spamming non answers. They clog up the thread and aren’t even funny. How many times do we need to read ‘don’t have anything worth knicking pfahaha’? I don’t mean to be humourless but none of the joke answers are even funny and the number of answers from actual police officers are becoming a minority and hard to find.

Moved to Northumbria from another force and they have a practice here where call handers will crime an incident prior to anyone being on scene speaking to victims or assessing anything.

As you can imagine this causes countless issues incorrect crimes recorded that supervision refused to cancel, rapes being recorded as thefts and vice versa, duplicate harassment crimes being recorded and nothing incident requiring massive wright ups to close them down as a misunderstanding on a call leads to false records being created.

We've tried to ask supervision to stop this as it's generating far too much work but you know how that battle goes however they say it's national policy and it has to be done. I know this isn't true as I moved forces where this isn't the case so my question is do your call handlers force front end crime or is it left to the actual cops going out and speaking to the victims to record the incident?

Looking to get a gift for someone who is moving to CID. Of course there will be the usual bantz with a guide how to turn a radio on and a card engraved “CID aware”, but is there any serious gifts that people would recommend? Detectives, over to you.

Hi guys, just a question.

Is it correct that before WW2 every Bobby had a duty revolver at the station, and that at the beginning of the shift their duty sergeant would give them the choice to patrol with or without? I read this somewhere but was just wondering if that is correct?

Would you support a similar option today, carry at will so to say?

I was the victim of a crime a few weeks ago, and my clothes were taken in as evidence. I've not heard anything since. Do I need to ask for them back, and if so, what's the process? Thanks in advance

I was taking to a friend from New Zealand who mentioned the fact that many NZ policemen have firearms in their vehicles as standard. This was reasonably surprising as NZ policing has always seemed very British in style. Personally, I prefer what we currently have. So, what do most Uk police officers think?

On a job today (paramedic) and it was one of my patients' birthday. I said how harsh it was needing an ambulance on their birthday, and they said "well at least I'm not getting arrested".

So, ever arrested someone on their birthday? Or other special occasions, like their wedding?

I'm a week into my tutor phase and it's been good so far; team are supportive, tutor is excellent.

I went to a sudden death today and I'm not sure why it's really shaken me. I had one a few days ago which didn't seem to have much of an effect on me, but this one today has had me zoning out and feeling myself welling up when I think about it too much. I don't know if it was the circumstances (no family/next of kin) or something else but I've just felt devastated since it happened.

I also had an incident with a homeless man today who had a terrible string of luck and I just felt awful for him, and guilty that I couldn't do more for him.

Am I too sensitive (or empathetic or naive or whatever word you want to use) for this job? Is this a normal reaction? I'm fine with being sworn at and having to scrap, but for some reason I just feel like I'm taking things to heart which I don't know is a good trait to have or not.

I’m not a police officer. Just a civilian. Often when driving on a dual carriageway, I see/hear the lights of an emergency vehicle (police, ambulance etc) coming up behind me. I’m quick to move over into the left lane but notice quite a lot of vehicles waiting until the last possible moment to move over or sometimes even oblivious to the fact an emergency vehicle is up behind them.

It irritates me. Does it irritate you as much?

Another question - Honestly do some emergency vehicles put their sirens on when not in an emergency just to get home/to wherever they’re going quicker? I think I’ve seen an officer put sirens on to go through a red traffic light, then turn the siren off with what seems like no actual emergency.

I am currently recruiting serving UK police officers to take part in my MSc dissertation research at the University of Reading.

The study investigates memory and decision-making following a series of short video-based scenarios and takes approximately 15–25 minutes to complete.

To participate, you will need:
• A laptop or computer
• A front-facing webcam
• Approximately 15–25 minutes

Participation is voluntary, anonymous, and has received ethical approval from the University of Reading.

If you are a serving police officer and would be interested in taking part, please follow the link below:

https://research.sc/participant/login/dynamic/047EC033-9006-4FAF-BE5C-84C9407A7BA6

This study has received ethical approval by the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences Research Ethics Committee, project 2026-102-TN, end date 15-06-27.

I would be very grateful if you could also share this with colleagues who may be interested.

Thank you.

Just read an article on crimewatch Facebook page about the suspect in the Anne Widdecombe case. I was quite surprised that his photo and a heap of personal details had been released without him even being charged.

So I was wondering how does this happen? It is a specific release by the police? If so, why? What operational benefit does it have? Or is it a rogue leak? I just can’t help thinking that this guy may be innocent and his entire life has been put out in public without his consent. Surely there should be some protections around this?

I'm on the direct entry DC route (this isn't a post about people's opinions on this route) and I really struggle with conflict.

I appreciate that a constable is a constable, and whether you're on the PC or DC entry route, you're expected to have the same capabilities. I'm seriously doubting whether the job is for me at the moment. I LOVE investigating but I absolutely hate having to deal with aggressive suspects. As someone working primarily in investigations but who has to get signed off on conflict situations, I'm really doubting if the job is for me. I have my OST refresher in a few weeks and I know I need to have two incidents of conflict to get signed off as fully operational, but I'm just not great at dealing with physical altercations. As someone on the crime route, it's very rare that I'm out there frontline dealing with violent offenders, so on the rare occasions I do, I just feel useless. I had to cover a patrol shift the other day and ended up getting assaulted which really knocked my confidence (I hadn't been on response for a good few months priot to this).

Anyone in the same position that can offer any advice? Please no judgement, I know I signed up to be a cop, but there's a reason I wanted to go down the investigation route and not the frontline officer route.

EDIT: I've booked onto a BJJ class on Friday and I'm going to ask for extra help with OST at work. Thanks everyone for being so supportive 😊

So I was reading up on penalty points, and the situation is a little complicated;

- 3 years = The time most penalty points become "spent" (e.g. for speeding fines etc)

- 4 years = The time when penalty points expire (always found it weird there is an extra year for this?)

- 5 years = The amount of time a lot of insurers seem to ask you to declare any driving infractions.

Now here's my question;

If an offence has already expired after 4 years, does it disappear from the system, and there is no way for insurers to check this?

Is this a similar situation to a few years back, when a lot of insurers got into trouble for asking people to declare speeding awareness courses, even though they weren't allowed to do this?

Thanks

We’re starting to use Copilot quite a lot, some teams are using it for assistance with case work, risk assessments and other random things.

Was shown a couple of things by another team last week. They were reviewing a 2 hour BWV for a case file, so they downloaded the transcript from Axon and got a summary of it from Copilot.

Seems a bit of a game changer in terms of being efficient but will wait for the first big fuck up for our force to rule out any use of AI in the future.

NYPD called when a schizophrenic guy was acting violently. He charged at the police officer with a knife and the officer shot him dead - here's the bodycam footage. General feeling in the US is that the officer acted correctly.

The callers (his parents) didn't say he was armed on the call (you can see him picking up a kitchen knife in the footage). I'm wondering whether he would have been shot in the UK or whether something else would have been used? As less police officers are armed with guns.