Joining the Scottish police

mike47

hi there, I'm wondering if you can help me. I am from Ireland, I'm 23 years old and I have been living in Edinburgh for the last year. I have decided that I want to join the scottish police, but after checking their website, it just says they are recruiting.

The problem is that I am due to complete my final year of college in september, in a field I no longer have any interest in. The only thing making me stay on is the thought that I might be wasting my time leaving now if there is a chance I may not get into the police.

Can anyone tell me the kinds of things I need to do/have for this? eg: do i have to get full garda clearance from ireland or can they jsut check that themselves? How long will I be likely to be waiting for that? Do I need a full drivers licence?

Also, has anyone been through this procedure and can they help me out at all as to what to expect re: examinations etc..

Delancey

I'm very surprised that their website does not give more details ?
I know very little about any Scottish forces ( and thats despite having once lived there ). I suspect there is a requirement that you be resident in the UK for 3 years prior to application - such a requirement exists for the 43 forces of England and Wales but as for Scotland ?

You didn't say what force you were interested in but lets say its the Lothian and Borders force , perhaps you might want to check out the website for, say, Strathclyde and that would give you some idea of requirements.

Do be aware that Scotland is ( and always has been ) quite different to England and Wales in terms of Policing and Law so websites such as the UK Home Office are really of little value and may serve to only confuse you.

You will almost certainly need full Garda Vetting which will begin once the Scottish Police request it - it can be slooow ( up to a year ) so I reckon you can quite safely stay on in university for now.

Good luck !

Hi mike, I haven't been through the process for a Scottish force but I've always thought about applying for Strathclyde Police so I've looked into it quite a bit. Not sure about other forces but I can't imagine there would be too much difference in their process/requirements etc. and it's not too different from the PSNI's process. They have the usual 3 year residency rule but this can be waived in certain circumstances, not too sure what they are though. Also they require you to have a driving licence before you apply (don't think this is the case for PSNI, correct me if I'm wrong folks!)

Strathclyde's process consists of App form - Standard Entrance Test (language, numbers, info handling) - Initial fitness test - Initial interview - Vetting - Final interview - Medical - Final fitness test.
So, quite a thorough process, but you are allowed to sit your SET 3 times if you fail, but if you fail the rest you have to wait a year before applying again, or to any other force.
I believe the whole process is generally a bit quicker than the PSNI, over 6 months or so, but vetting being sent to the Republic probably would slow it up a bit.
Also they recruit all year round (or atleast they used to, havent checked in a while) so you may not get offered a post straight away if your successful, think they intake as posts come up basically.

Don't know if that's any use at all to you, but that's what I know of anyways for Strathclyde! Personally, I would just go for it. You can still apply and stick in college no bother, at the end of the day your only talking half a dozen or so days you'll be at some sort of test, no point dropping out as there's always that chance that you could fail.

Go for it...whats the worst that could happen