Future
potential police recruits should complete a vocational degree before they apply
to the service, according to the sector skills body for the criminal justice
system.
Dick
Winterton, chief executive of Skills for Justice,
said the police service is the only profession that does not use the education
system to prepare people before they join.
“If
you want to be an engineer, what do you do? Do you pitch up at the local works
and say: ‘I want to be an engineer’, and they say: ‘Crikey, come in, we will
train you’? Or, if you want to be a doctor, do you just turn up at the
hospital?” he told Police Review magazine.
Winterton also called for a professional register to track
the skills and competencies of police officers.
“In
all professions, there is a requirement for individuals to be able to
demonstrate not only that they have the required competence, but also that they
are maintaining their skills and knowledge,” he said.
“At
the moment, the police service has no formal mechanism for ensuring that people
are keeping their skills up-to-date.”
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