Career Blog: Care Experienced Police Officer
This blog was written by a serving Police Officer who is Care Experienced
CONTENT WARNING: This interview contains discussion of alcohol misuse (although no graphic details are shared)
Hello, my name is Chris and I am 31 years old. I live in Edinburgh where I have grown up my entire life. I used to work at Tesco where I was given the opportunity to live and work in London for a year as a Personal Assistant to one of the Directors (believe me when I say I was probably the worst PA in the organisation!).
Growing up, I was in foster care due to my Mum suffering alcoholism. Safe to say, when intoxicated, she wasn’t a very nice person. Unfortunately, my Dad passed away before I was born and, at the age of 18, my Mum passed away very suddenly at her work. As an only child with little family, it’s basically just been me from 18 years old and I had to grow up very quickly. I never expected at that age to be taking out a mortgage to pay for funeral expenses, old debt that my Mum had and generally just living as an adult. It was a very steep learning curve, but I am pleased to say that I came out the other side with only a few bumps and bruises.
Outside of work I like to keep myself fit through regular exercise and gym-work. Something not many people know about me is, when I was younger, I was in an advert for Birds Eye peas having been spotted at Portobello Beach!
What job do you do and what does it involve?
Having worked in Tesco from 18 to 23, I decided I needed a career change and applied to join the Police. Successfully passing the application process, I have been in this job for 8 years. I can say with absolute certainty that I love what I do. Having spent three years on the street in response policing, I applied to the detective training programme where I fully qualified as a detective after 18 months. I have worked in Child Abuse Investigation Unit, Rape Investigation Unit, Non-penetrative Sexual Offences Unit and also the Interagency Referral Desk (where Police communicate with Health and Social Work around vulnerable adults and children).
After four years as a Detective, I decided I wanted to try something different and decided to apply for a role in Operational Training. This is where I train probationary officers fresh from the Police College in Alloa, conduct their required assessments and deliver business skills courses. I love this job and it has really helped me in terms of my confidence, such as speaking in front of a large group of people! It has also helped me appreciate the ‘non-policing’ side of policing and opened my eyes as to what actually goes in the background.
Police Scotland is an excellent organisation that welcomes those from care experienced backgrounds. It also demonstrates an unwavering respect for diversity and values the benefits those with diverse backgrounds have to offer. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
When did you decide that you wanted to work for the Police? Do you foresee yourself always within this sector of work?
I never grew up wanting to join the Police and my involvement with them prior to joining had always been quite negative and strained – mainly because I would see them a lot growing up in response to my Mum’s ongoing alcohol issues. I also remember having had several conversations with officers as a child and, looking back, they didn’t really know how to speak to or approach me.
Considering my career options beyond Tesco, I had some friends who worked for the Police and always enjoyed hearing their stories or explaining what they did throughout the day. A medium also once told me that I should join the Police soon after my Mum died but that’s a story for another day!
Although it was not a vocation, I had dreamt of taking up, I wanted to make a positive difference to the lives of others. I realised that my diverse background gave me a unique perspective and would allow me to connect with others, especially care experienced young people, on a level that others may not be able to resonate with.
What were some of the barriers you had to overcome to get to this job? Were those barriers connected to your care experience?
A barrier I thought I might come up against when joining the Police was, fairly obviously, my Mum’s criminal background. Although my Mum had passed away, I felt that my connection with her may flag up on my background checks and stop me from joining. Thankfully, this was never an issue. I very honestly stated on my application my background. Honesty and integrity is highly valued within Police Scotland so I wanted to ensure I started on the right foot.
Having previously run away when I was in foster care and a couple of poor Police interactions when I was younger, I was also concerned that my own background may prevent me from joining. However, as before, I listed what I could remember in my form to ensure that I was being as transparent as possible. This was also never an issue.
I think a final aspect to discuss is probably the perception I felt that the Police may have of me being from a care experienced background. Unfortunately, and sometimes unavoidable, a lot of the interactions we have with young people, especially those that are care experienced, isn’t always positive. Having observed this when I was younger it worried me that they may disregard my application due to this, but I could not have been more wrong. In fact, I incorporated some of these examples into my application and subsequent interview process.
The barriers I thought I would face simply didn’t exist and, to my surprise, actually benefited me when trying to describe myself and what made me a resilient individual.
Beyond your standard education, what steps did you take to get to where you are now?
Fortunately, I performed fairly well at school and had a place at University to study English Literature (back when I wanted to be an English teacher). Due to my Mum’s sudden passing, however, this wasn’t to be as I had debts to pay and my own life to organise.
In sponsorship with Police Scotland, I became aware of an opportunity to study Applied Investigation with the University of Sunderland at BA(Hons) level. Although this was self-funded, I jumped at the opportunity and graduated in June 2022 with a 1st class honors degree. I have also attained a Diploma in Police Leadership and am scheduled to finish my Certificate in Training, Learning and Assessment shortly. These opportunities are available to officers, even if they do not necessarily have the school grades normally required. I am hoping to apply for promotion to Sergeant in October 2022.
More recently, I have applied for a two week secondment to Malawi in Africa to assist training local officers in both child protection and sexual offence response and procedures. Of all the opportunities I have had, this one has appealed to me most and I was delighted to find out I had been successful. I am due to fly over towards the end of this year.
Were there any particular relationships that you leaned on / lean on now that helped you get into your profession or helped you get to where you are now?
I have been privileged in the Police to have had multiple mentors, some of whom have now left the organisation but have really left a lasting effect on me.
Ch Supt Lesley Clarke, Supt Sarah Taylor, Supt Jordana Emerson, Ch Supt Helen Harrison, DI Caroline Wilson, Supt Alan Carson, PS Willie Rennie, DC Tania Edmond and DS Andrina Cunningham, all of whom work across various departments within the organisation, have been unbelievably supportive of me and my development. As you can see, even those with very high levels of organisational responsibility have afforded me their time and advice at times when I have needed / need it the most.
I would encourage anybody, regardless of profession, to find a mentor or mentors who can provide you guidance and help hone areas you need to develop as well as nurture areas you would consider your strengths.
As I am sure many of you may also be able to relate, it goes without saying that my friends, in the absence of family, have always been incredible and particularly crucial in keeping me sane and sorted.
What advice would you give someone who is care experienced when thinking about career choices?
The best piece of advice I can give to anyone looking at career choices, policing or otherwise, is use your background and diversity to your advantage. We have an experience that the majority of people do not. What we have been through, our backgrounds and our scars do not dictate the sort of person we should or turn out to be, but instead shapes us as individuals. We are resilient, emotionally aware and have a very unique perspective (to name but a few). Ask yourself - What employer wouldn’t want that in their organisation?
As you can probably tell, I am a fairly ambitious individual with a lot of hopes, dreams and aspirations. What people sometimes don’t realise, and I feel it worth mentioning as some of you may be able to relate, is that sometimes – for a care experienced individual – our ambitions stems from not having a family support system or from trying to break the mold. I do not have family I can rely on if things go wrong, I can’t rely on a parent giving me money if I am having a hard month and I certainly can’t rely on somebody else to push me forward, telling me to make something of my life.
It is just me and it has been for the majority of my life. I am vocal about what I want to achieve and the successes I have, not because I am arrogant or self-centered, but because I didn’t have anyone to listen to me when I was growing up and I felt that I did not have a voice or a say about what was happening in my world. Suddenly, I find myself a voice, control over my own journey and with both people and an employer that care and, crucially, want to listen to what I have to say.
Embrace your scars, embrace your background and embrace what makes you a diverse individual. If I could turn back time and speak to myself as a child or young adult, I would crouch down, give myself a shake by the shoulders and simply say: I promise you, things can and will get better.
To find out about Police Scotland Recruitment visit https://www.scotland.police.uk/recruitment/