Officers quitting PSNI

Goonerdee

http://www.newsletter.co.uk:80/news/local/officers_quit_in_fear_of_dissidents_1_2900252

It is frustrating knowing these officers should have been aware of what the situation was before signing up and costing the PSNI money that it could be used to recruit more officers. But I suppose most thought they could handle the difficulties of being a PSNI officer and it just didn't work out.

I was about to go on a bit of a rant until I realised the total figure is from 2001, so I suppose the figures aren't too bad over a 10 year period. Though it's still an average of 6 or so a year leaving after less than a years service...6 incredibily hard sought after places :mad:

In a statement, released last night, the PSNI said “officers leave for many reasons” including: the job wasn’t what they expected: some of their family were not happy with the decision to join or in some cases the officers have not been able to attain the high standards expected.

Sure there may be other reasons to leave other than the threat level, but this is why I think its ridiculous that there's no interview involved at any stage of recruitment. You can suss out alot from people in an interview that no role play ever will, an interview could determine if people really know what they're getting themselves in to, if they know what they job will entail, have they really thought about the reprocussions first, if they want to be a police officer for the right reasons... that's vital stuff in my opinion. Sure it would push the cost of recruitment up, but it would possibly stop some of the early leavers and non starters.

I wonder what the figures look like compared to other forces?

cesc77

Funny that.I have just heard 10 mins ago of someone I know who quit after 3 years:mad:(not sure why yet).He had tried for 4 campaigns before succeeding on his fifth attempt.

Im sure there will be more people quitting due to the increased threat.Not everyone has the wit to research a career in the PSNI and all that it entails.Some will have seen it as just a job to apply for in the current climate.

Im sure we've had a gripe about this before but it cant hurt to have another moan.:pac:

I reckon the interview idea is a damn good one,as is the detailed information idea,given one to one about how a recruits life would change and affect those around them.

I think these were omitted for a reason,namely that anything which may deter(or hinder) potential RCs from joining up wouldnt be included in the application process.

Just my opinion,of course and not trying to cause trouble,but percentages had to be hit so the most efficient manner in which to hit said percentages had been found after a decade of recruitment.There have been quite a few tweaks to the whole process from the first campaign.Every tweak was done for a reason so that targets and percentages are achieved.

Oh, but Im sure some of them,like the IST rollovers,were done for financial reasons:rolleyes:

Delancey

Agree that an interview would surely weed out the imbeciles who quit after 1 day in Garnerville after discovering that they are required to wear a uniform , carry a firearm , etc.
I am fairly sure those figures do not include those who decline to take up the offer of a place in Garnerville - lest we forget no less than 4 boardies did not take up the offer of a place in the March intake ( the last one ).
If my memory serves me correctly it was down to issues of Personal Security.

cesc77

4!!?

Forgive my memory,but were those places reallocated to others or were they lost forever?

If others were found to fill the spots,great,but if they were lost its tough to take.If that were the case and the 4 potential new recruits were RC,would 4 non-Rcs have their offer rescinded to even up the numbers entering GV?

Can you imagine?:(

Delancey

cesc77 wrote: »

4!!?

Forgive my memory,but were those places reallocated to others or were they lost forever?

If others were found to fill the spots,great,but if they were lost its tough to take.If that were the case and the 4 potential new recruits were RC,would 4 non-Rcs have their offer rescinded to even up the numbers entering GV?

Can you imagine?:(

Dunno if the places were re-allocated.

No , they would not I believe rescind offers for the purposes of achieving a 50/50 balance but by the same token were the places to be re-allocated they may well have been targetted in a way that preserved 50/50.

Shield

Unfortunately those 4 places would not be back-filled if people fail to turn up on the day. The would have missed their Student Information Day a few weeks prior to their start date, and attendance at this is mandatory.

Goonerdee

cesc77 wrote: »

Funny that.I have just heard 10 mins ago of someone I know who quit after 3 years:mad:(not sure why yet).He had tried for 4 campaigns before succeeding on his fifth attempt.

Im sure there will be more people quitting due to the increased threat.Not everyone has the wit to research a career in the PSNI and all that it entails.Some will have seen it as just a job to apply for in the current climate.

Im sure we've had a gripe about this before but it cant hurt to have another moan.:pac:

I reckon the interview idea is a damn good one,as is the detailed information idea,given one to one about how a recruits life would change and affect those around them.

I think these were omitted for a reason,namely that anything which may deter(or hinder) potential RCs from joining up wouldnt be included in the application process.

Just my opinion,of course and not trying to cause trouble,but percentages had to be hit so the most efficient manner in which to hit said percentages had been found after a decade of recruitment.There have been quite a few tweaks to the whole process from the first campaign.Every tweak was done for a reason so that targets and percentages are achieved.

Oh, but Im sure some of them,like the IST rollovers,were done for financial reasons:rolleyes:

I was talking to a policeman who wants to quit after only 3 years. I asked why and he said there was too much politics in their jobs.

Delancey

Goonerdee wrote: »

I was talking to a policeman who wants to quit after only 3 years. I asked why and he said there was too much politics in their jobs.

When he referred to '' politics '' was he talking about what we sometimes know as ' office politics ' or the other kind ?

Goonerdee

Delancey wrote: »

When he referred to '' politics '' was he talking about what we sometimes know as ' office politics ' or the other kind ?

Something along the lines of every move the PSNI makes has to have all political implications reviewed first before they can do their job.

Delancey

I follow you alright , given that Policing has been such a contentious political issue pretty much since partition then I guess it ( regrettably ) follows that senior commanders have to keep one eye on how their actions are perceived , bound to be a source of frustration to Police Officers.

Goonerdee

Delancey wrote: »

I follow you alright , given that Policing has been such a contentious political issue pretty much since partition then I guess it ( regrettably ) follows that senior commanders have to keep one eye on how their actions are perceived , bound to be a source of frustration to Police Officers.

Its sad that. Im sure every police force has problems with politicians thinking they know how cops should do their job better than the cops do. I can only imagine how many times worse it is for NI cops.

Delancey

I remember when Sir Hugh Orde was Chief Constable he said that no other Police Service was subject to the degree of oversight the PSNI was.
Between the Ombudsman , Policing Board , District Partnerships , etc , he made it clear that any further oversight could be counter-productive.

Shield

The people that are leaving after a year or less weren't cut out for the job, and the dissident threat that was always there, and was spelled out to them on Day 1, is just a convenient 'out'.

You have to know how to 'play the game' in this job. If you don't, you'll end up like Goonerdee's friend - disillusioned, lost in the politics, used and very much abused, and that only ends one way.

I think people watch too much Road Wars, get ideas about themselves so they join up - but then the job turns out to be very different to what they had imagined AND their role in the job turns out not to be the one they had envisaged when they watched too much TV.

This is why we badly need prospective Student Officers to be interviewed as opposed to doing a few psychometric tests. A good store manager could pass those tests but that doesn't mean they're going to be a good peeler. IMHO interviews are a must for this job.

Delancey

I believe there was an interesting phone-in show on Radio Ulster today about PSNI recruitment process , numbers leaving , etc.
Did anyone catch it ?

Shield

Delancey wrote: »

I believe there was an interesting phone-in show on Radio Ulster today about PSNI recruitment process , numbers leaving , etc.
Did anyone catch it ?

You should be able to listen to it here from 6 minutes and 30 seconds onwards...

Have yet to get listened through all of that, but one point I'd like to make just from what I've listened to so far. I'm sure you all know by now I'm against 50/50 as a recruitment policy, but even myself as an NRC it annoyed me slightly to hear so much of "so and so, a protestant, got rejected 6/7/8 times because of their religion"...is that really so?? It's incredibly easy as an NRC to blame 50/50 for the reason of rejection after making it to the merit pool (I know, I was tempted to but I know myself that with or without it my score wasn't good enough)
In reality there's only a rather small number of NRC's who reach the merit pool that it actually will have been the reason for their rejection. Due to the large numbers who make it into the pool compared to the number of actual positions there's always going to a majority who get rebuffed. Just because an NRC get's rejected at this stage does not mean it's due to 50/50, if it were a straight competition for 400 positions and you came say in the 700's then that's just not enough, regardless. If an NRC with a merit number of 300 or so get's rejected after clearing everything else, then yes in that circumstance it would be fair to say it was because of religion.

As against it as I always was, I just feel there are people who use it way too freely as the reason for not getting in. Obviously I don't know those people's actual circumstances, so it could very well be so in their cases, but it comes across as too easy a cop out sometimes for some.

gigity gigity

Agree with you on that, a lot of people use 5050 as an excuse, its pretty easy to I suppose rather than say that they didnt score high enough.

I mentioned to some one in passing that I had applied and didnt get and the first thing they spouted out was 5050!
For most of us on here we know how it worked but I dont think the rest of the country were properly informed of the facts. In my opinion the majority of unionist were given half truths and this obviously was a source of resentment for some. By the same token nationalists im sure felt that the PSNI was an easy touch because of statements saying that any catholic in the merit pool was selected without also mentioning that EVERYONE in the merit pool has reached the required level to be a police officer and that it is a long and difficult road to get on the list.

Anybody heard of any other UK police force possibly looking recruits in the near future?

Have just realised that this post is actually nothing to to with the thread, so move if you feel fit Del.

Delancey

No problem gig .

Not aware of any recruitment by any forces , I just checked The Met's site and they are not accepting applicants , when you consider The Met has well over 30,000 officers and has a relatively high turnover that indicates just how poor the recruitment outlook is.

Best bet would be to check in regularly on the Home Office Police - could you ? site , they have a listing of all forces and indicate who is currently recruiting.

BoutYe

Haven't been here in ages and a bit late coming to this thread but another reason people leave the police is one very common to everyday life - it's a job! Everybody has jobs that one for reason or another they don't like and try to get out of.

Every job you ever applied for, you obviously had some interest in it otherwise you would not have applied for it. You get there and at the start it's great - meeting new people, new routine, new experiences, hopefully more money too.

But as with everything the novelty wears off. Your get to know the new people and you find you don't quite get on with all of them, you even dislike a few. The new routine drops the new and it's just routine. The new experiences become the same old same old. And then you start thinking "I wonder is the grass really greener on the other side"

Next thing you know there's some other job grabs your attention and you're away. Yeah it sucks for the outsider looking in who wished they had your job but that's just life!

BoutYe

Oh, and just incase you are wondering, I'm not wondering about the grass yet

Delancey

Great to hear from you BoutYe , hope all is well with you.

Your post shows that sometimes its the mundane and everyday reasons that make people leave their ' dream job ' , I know of several boardsies who were regular posters here who were thrilled to get ' the call ' but have since quit the PSNI and for reasons like Shift Work - some people just cant get used to it and their health suffers , just happens I guess.

There was a time that the vast majority of people once they joined the Police stayed in the Police , that is not the case anymore.
The Met has very high turnover with some 40% of new recruits not making it to their 10th anniversary - food for thought.

BoutYe

Don't get me wrong, people who quit because they have to work shifts or those general sort of reasons are just idiots. They should never have applied for the job in the first place and I have no sympathy for them. I'm talking about 5 or 10 years down the road when the shiny new is all worn away.

And if you don't like shifts - well they are getting few and far between but there are still 9-5 office jobs going, you don't need to quit.

DesertCreat_15

Hows it bout ye, have you heard any rumours about recruitment or the likes lately?

BoutYe

Not wanting to dash your hopes but no, no rumours whatsoever. With all the trainers etc getting booted out to handy jobs elsewhere I think it's safe to say there won't be any more recruitment until the new college is built.

Sure is GV not up for sale too?

Delancey

BoutYe wrote: »

Sure is GV not up for sale too?

Actually there was a recent rumour that the sale had already been concluded !

Apparently the medium / long-term plan is to sell the site for re-development but given the very depressed state of the property sector throughout the island and the difficulty any buyer would have raising the finance I would guess a sale could not be described as imminent.
Chances of getting a good price in the current market would be nil I would think.

I will be interested when the construction of the new college begins ....to think that Patten recommended this .... :rolleyes:

Morrika

Some people quit because 80% of the time is spent being a clerk. This varies from district to district. I witnessed some terrorist attacks - no problem, injuries on duty, I never even took time off. Fatal RTCs involving kids giving first aid before ambulance arrived and having a child die in your arms, hard but part of the job. Paperwork, time in motion studies and pointless reports, I couldn't do it because after 4 years I wasn't sleeping worrying about paperwork. I loved the "policing" bit just not cut out for secretarial duties

Shield

Morrika wrote: »

This varies from district to district.

So true, but you could have done your homework and put in for a transfer to another district. I'm a Con and I totally agree that the amount of irrelevant paperwork we have to do so the others who get it just sit around and talk about statistics which get talked about and then binned because the budget is gone.

Looking at the amount of paperwork we used to have to do, what we have to do now is a huge reduction and allows us to get our files ready quicker. That doesn't go down well with everyone because it can make others look bad if you're keen to get up and at 'em, but that discussion is for another day.

Quitting a job in a recession takes a lot of guts unless you had something else lined up which was equally as secure?

Morrika

I liked where I worked and most of my colleagues and the only option to transfer would have been Belfast which I am not that fond of. I didn't have anything lined up but was only out of work for 2 weeks so that was no problem. If I had been able to do a bit of research beforehand I would have realised that the DCUs are so different and knowing people who were in exactly the same position as I was but in a different area I would probably still be in the job.