THINKING OF JOINING ESSEX POLICE?

What's it all about?

If you have studied this website you may have formed a somewhat sceptical view of the Police! In actual fact, what you have read has prepared you well for the different types of people that there are in Essex Police! Some are very bitter about the job, some still love it...it must be remembered that this is the same in ALL occupations.

Although the identity of the Webcop is a closely guarded secret, it can be disclosed that Webcop is in a position within Essex Police to know a bit about what it is all about...The following are the views of Webcop and NOT necessarily Essex Police...

PLUS POINTS TO JOINING UP...

Well, what other jobs do you really have the flexibility and challenge that potentially faces a Police Officer on a daily basis?  - It is literally a case of one minute you are waving your arms about at an R.T.A and the next minute you could be saving someone from throwing themselves of a building or in front of a train!

What other job gives the true feeling of a job well done when you can be part of a team that can be partly or wholly responsible for justice being done!  - O.K the sceptics out there will say that this doesn't happen, and there is still a long way to go, but where would we be without the British Police.....think about that seriously!

You will be entering into a team.  - How far you take your own participation into that team is an individual matter. You can enjoy a superb social life within the Police.

If you do get bored, or become a bit stale and rusty (as a few of the guestbook authors must be by now!) you have a unique facility to change your job description without changing your job! The possibilities are almost endless.....dog handler, traffic officer, diver, motorcyclist, detective, fingerprint analyst, controller, front desk, air support, public order officer, police medic, coroners officer, domestic violence liaison, wildlife liaison...etc etc...all of these specialised posts can be applied for and achieved if you are the right officer...what other job has that kind of scope?

There are more positive things to mention...by all means mail the webcop for any further info.

It is only fair to point out some of the realistic 'down sides' to joining up..sorry but they are true!

THE 'DOWN SIDE'

How others may perceive you - this is sad fact of life, as soon as you get the badge, and the uniform, you can appear to 'change'. The chances are you wont have changed, but you are now 'one of them'. Suddenly you may find that as soon as it is known what you do for a living and you attend a public function (off duty), YOU become the 'sponge' of all the 'bad cop' stories. In fact, it becomes YOUR fault that someone got a speeding ticket 3 years ago!

Shift work! - 'nuff said!

Dinosaurs within the workplace......'it ain't the job it used to be boy, when I joined up the men were men and so were the women'...seriously, I've heard it! - don't worry, they are a dying breed! but not quite extinct...yet.

Where you get posted! - Bottom line is, you may be lucky, you may not be! - If you join up and own a house in, say Colchester, be prepared you may be posted to Loughton!! if not now maybe in the future. You would have seen on this site a great deal of negative comments regarding 'redeployment' and indeed it is a very disrupting thing to happen when you get settled in an environment, having built your personal life up around an area, only to have that suddenly changed without any retribution, HOWEVER, it is a term of our employment. I personally wouldn't want the Chief's job for any money! There is a massive responsibility to Police an area, let alone a county. Difficult times usually do call for difficult remedies...be warned..you may be lucky, and you may not be!

The pay! - Excuse the cliché, but it ain't what it used to be! - Things are improving and with the pay scales increasing on a yearly increment basis, it's not long before you start earning a considerable amount more that on joining! - remember there is always overtime, oh and these little things like strikes and disasters, (fire brigade, ambulance, prison officers, and most recently fuel - plane crashes, hostage situations) - in all of these scenarios the Police play a major role, which is very draining on resources but almost always involves lots of available overtime to fund holidays, cars, boats...well OK maybe not the boat, but you get the idea.

I could go on and on and on.....The main thing about being a Police officer, which can not be disputed, is that it is a major challenge. If this appeals to you then look into it!

After all...you could do worse, you could be a Webcop!

The decision is yours......

love Webcop!

OK. I want to know more..

click to be linked to the 'official' Essex Police Site

Sod that for a job! take me back to the Homepage......

WAIT!

This just sent in, apparently displayed in a canteen at a North Essex Station>>>>

SO YOU WANT TO BE A POLICE OFFICER!

When you start your job you get to wear one colour, blue. You work all hours of the day and night, on your anniversary, at Christmas and on the day your child is the star of their first school play.

When there are explosions, gunshots or screams you run towards them. You must love children even those shouting at you. You have to be able to separate a bottle-wielding husband from his wife with no injury to anyone. Then when you arrest one, the other jumps on your back and attacks you.

People curse you and you cannot curse them back. People hate you and you cannot hate them back.

You have to be an expert in criminal law, a negotiator, perfect at crowd control, a therapist, a marksman, a hero, a physic, an expert in race relations, be able to deliver a baby, climb a rope, scale a wall, have the analytical intelligence of Sherlock Holmes, the sensitivity of Jesus Christ and be able to hit like George Foreman. You can never lose your temper.

If you give a driver a ticket for doing 55mph in a 30mph limit area crowded with kids, the driver will demand to know why you are not chasing criminals instead of respectful citizens like him. If you chase a criminal who then pulls a gun then you shoot him, then it is your fault and frequently you will be prosecuted. In any event you are guilty of harassment even if you do not shoot him.

If you chase a madman who is driving a car and there’s a crash it’s always you fault. If you don’t believe it is your fault then look in the newspapers and television reports and they will put you right.

If you pursue, wrestle, handcuff and arrest an armed robber, get bruised, blooded and forgot to dot an ’I’ or cross a ‘T’, a judge, panel of appeal judges or a whole court will tell you that it’s your fault and release a dangerous criminal into the community. Let’s face it; the prisons are full of innocent people.

You have to solve major crimes in a day or you’re not doing your job. If you stop 5 minutes or lunch then you are lazy. If you accept a cup of coffee then you are corrupt. If you answer a call for help, run to your car then screech the tyres you are a ‘cowboy’. If you get to the scene 5 minutes after the call came out you are criticised for not getting there faster. You get to know more about chemical than a chemist. You have to know more about chemical reactions in humans than a doctor does. When you break into a crack house you can never forget to caution the assorted collection of criminals racing for the doorways, jumping out of windows, punching you in the face and running to the bathroom to relieve themselves of the evidence. If the criminals don’t get rid of the evidence then the state paid lawyers descend upon the station to defend their rights and to generally interfere with justice. The legally aided lawyers will go through the motions and attack you in court. Of course it is your entire fault.

In a hostage situation, if you shoot the hostage taker then you are a murderer and if you do not shoot him and continue to talk to him and someone gets hurt then you are indecisive.

You are unpopular all of the time, every hour, every day until someone needs police help. Pay is not good, hours are ridiculous and you probably won’t get to see regular shifts until you have been in 15 years.

If you are still interested in becoming a police officer you can still apply immediately because fine women and men have unexpectantly lost their jobs today – in the line of duty.

...and they thought I was a sceptical cynical old git!