My 2 year review

mse2020

Firstly I will give you some background information, I have just been signed out of my probation and have spend the past 2 years as a con in LPT

The start

I entered Garnerville absolutely clueless because within the first day I realised everything that I thought i knew about the police was wrong and misinformed, once you learn the ways of GV you quickly settle in

The exams the fitness the uni shite lol, I can answer any questions anyone has ....

As a probationer in north area, after GV you go to a probationer support unit for 5 weeks this is where you will "trained" to do the job, and by that I mean you will attend calls with a Probation support officer and they will help you as you begin your journey, please note you will not under any circumstances be trained by the end of this, its more of a way to ease you in and show you some of the basics.

As a probationer in section this is where you learn the most, it really is sink or swim and I dont say that lightly, in my district the calls are thick and fast and you really do have to adapt quickly to getting your work done ASAP if you dont it will build and with low numbers you wont get the file days that you desperately need.

Personally I have experienced good numbers in terms of section strength however I also have experienced low numbers and its not easy but more on that later.

When you join section you will most likely be paired with another PSO to ease you into the area, you will experience everything imaginable within your first 6 months, from tragic loss to the joys of saving someone's life, you will be a comfort to people on their lowest of days and also you will be hated just for doing your job, but its all part of what we sign up for. I have experienced viable devices, severe assaults with and without weapons, people hell bent on doing themselves harm, people reporting their neighbours for brushing dirt on their driveway. there is nothing that surprises me anymore lol

When I started with section we had good numbers, but because I was new I was doing constant double obs, every set of shifts to learn the area the people and to build confidence, this continued for 1 year then it took a turn for the worst, my section was reduced within the space of 1 month to its minimum strength and for the next 3 months everyday was an obs turn, this took a toll on my confidence, my work life and my home life, I suddenly found that I couldn't switch off and I developed anxiety, I was anticipating calls when I was in work and I would feel anxious when I was called on the radio but I somehow managed to do my job and move onto the next call. The next 3 months after this were even worse ...... my colleagues got offered secondments to different departments and weren't replaced, other were off sick and there were days when I was the only one in work, this again made my confidence even lower, but I still showed up ever day and done my job because its my duty but its not what anyone would sign up for.

I asked for help at every opportunity, there was no help and this continued for another 6 months and still to this day but I have learned to make it work for me.

Honestly I have been to my limit, I had my resignation letter drafted but I couldn't bring myself to hand it in because I knew this was all temporary and that things would get better, its improving every day but its still not great moral within the organisation has taken a hit and its not great but you have to make the job work for you and put the head down and get on with it,

Now I dont want to be all negative lol yes its been hard but this job is one of the most rewarding jobs you can ever do, as I have said comforting people at their worst is one of the toughest yet best things I have done, dont get me wrong I am in the job of bringing people to justice but thats not all we do we are social workers, we are mental health workers we give first aid, we do cpr, there is so much to this job that makes it worth while.

I have attended calls were I have had to use force, in the media you will see videos and comments about police officers using force etc but we dont set out to start fights, we dont fight, we use the minimum amount of force to effect an arrest, ONLY if the circumstances warrant it, dont let all this bad publicity impact your decision making when attending calls, it will only put you in an even more dangerous situation than you already are, trust your training and dont be scared to get hands on if the situation requires it, you will be ok as long as you justify it.

I have policed large scale public events, this is a great time to get out and engage with the public, have a bit of banter and craic with people talk to everyone and dont take yourself to seriously lol

I have been involved in some really high adrenalyn situations, I have carried out pursuits of vehicles, cleared houses all good memories looking back, I have been in riots and public order ops and it scares the **** out of you but again its what we do.

I just want to finish this post by saying I love the job, I hate situation we are all in but the job is most of the time amazing, the past 2 years have I have seen everything and dealt with everything any and all questions welcome, I do not judge I am writing this post for selfish reasons partly a way for me to express frustration and others to help people starting out with their eyes wide open. So please ask questions their is nothing too small

mrrollingstone

thank you for sharing this honest post

did you find Garnerville really prepared you for this role as I have heard other folks say that the job is totally night and day compared to your 22 weeks in training? And they didn’t enjoy the training but enjoyed the job more