Nottinghamshire Police’s newest batch of trainee detectives moved one step closer to the role as they completed their initial period of fast-track training.
The force, keen to increase its numbers of detectives, has recently taken steps to reduce the amount of time it takes for recruits to apply and qualify for vital investigative roles.
Its Fast Track to Detective scheme, introduced to allow a quick and direct route into the police service, saw the first external cohort pass out on Friday (16 February 2024).
The recruits, who would traditionally have had to serve two years in uniformed response roles before applying to become a detectives, have just completed a 21-week basic training course to qualify as police officers and will now begin around seven months in response roles to gain valuable experience.
After that, they will receive a posting to a specialist CID or Public Protection team where they will help to investigate incidents like serious assaults, burglaries, robberies, fraud, drug and sex crimes. Once they have completed all the relevant national exams and proven themselves in a range of investigations they will qualify as full-time police detectives.
For PC Andrew Granville, the course brings him a step closer to realising his ambition of working in the police service. The 39-year-old said:
“I’ve always wanted to be in the police since I was a little child. I’m passionate about helping people and seeing things through to the end – I think that’s what I like about the detective side of policing.”
Having previously worked as a teacher, PC Granville admitted it felt strange to be the student again during the training programme at Nottinghamshire Police headquarters:
“It was a bit strange. But I found the training really good. When a trainer tells you about something they did in their career as a detective, you can see the pride they feel. It just makes you want to experience the same feeling by getting a result that’s made a difference to someone.”
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