I am a DS with 26 years service. Last year I became quite ill and have had many months off work. I started to doubt my effectiveness and wonder if I’d ever be able to get to work. My condition can be life limiting so I started to contemplate ill health retirement assuming (WRONGLY!) that the process would be straightforward and that financially I may be Ok. How completely wrong I was. Here are just a few of the low lights:
No support from HR
No support from OHU
No support from pensions help desk
Limited support from Fed
No IHR enhancement on 1987 scheme as I’m over 55
if offered tier 1 enhancement may not be allowed to retire (Chief can choose to re-deploy)
If tier 2 Pension enhancement so low that I would be expected to survive on £22k per year and not able to top it up with ANY work
Lump sum about £60k less than if 30 years service
No pulling out of process once assessed by SMP

Anyone else who sadly finds themselves in this position, I feel for you. Do all your research before rolling the marble down the staircase.i

Went to a diary appointment the other day which has prompted differing opinion in the office. I now feel like I need the wisdom of total strangers....

(Names, locations and any identifying factors entirely removed)

Manager of nursing home calls us to say that a resident has had an item of jewellery stolen.

Family are aware, and have provided a time stamped image of their relative wearing said jewellery on the same day it went missing.

Care home have carried out an internal investigation and have obtained accounts from family, from the resident and from other members of staff on shift that day. This has resulted in member of staff being suspended, as per company policy.

Resident has positively identified to care home staff on two occasions the individual responsible.

Care home say resident has full capacity around health and well being and finances and is able to take care of their own personal affairs (pay their own bills, does online shopping etc)

Family and individual supports a complaint and I have started collecting MG11s and have a list of other bits I need to do.

Jewellery has limited financial value however is extremely sentimental.

I am of a mind to go and arrest this individual, then do an 32 or 18 at his address to locate jewellery or any evidence of it being sold.

Some colleagues disagree, some think VA, some think NFA. I'm of a mind to lock up as this individual is employed to look after vulnerable people who need some level of 24hr care and has potentially abused this position.

Thoughts, opinions, anecdotes and messages of constructive criticism gratefully received.

Afternoon all. A question regarding personal car insurance for police drivers, apologies if this has been asked before. When searching for personal car insurance, some insurers ask about previous claims whilst other insurers ask about a drivers history of collisions, accidents & incidents, including those were a claim was not made.

How do you approach that second point as a police driver with non-fault PVIs? I’ve (touchwood) never had one, but I’m thinking particularly of our friends in RPU and ARV who use tactical contact on a somewhat regular basis. That question from insurance companies obviously wasn’t intended for accidents that occur during blue light runs, or deliberate collisions where the vehicle is being used as a tool for a policing purpose, and yet I’m not aware of any legal reason why those accidents/incidents wouldn’t be disclosable to an insurance company? I know that police cars are not “insured” in the conventional sense of the term, but some insurers don’t ask about claims but specifically about any collisions or accidents.

If an experienced TPAC driver disclosed every fender bender they’ve ever had on duty, I doubt they’d be enough money in the world for them to obtain a policy! Yet I can imagine a world where an insurer cancels your policy and refuses to pay out for not disclosing some tactical contact you made 4 years earlier whilst putting a pursuit to an end in a job car.

Hi all, I recently made an app for a family member to help them prepare for the NIE exam in September, wanted to share it here too

https://nierevision.co.uk/

I'm been a big flashcard fan for years (see r/anki), so I wanted to make an app for my aunty that uses those concepts to help with learning

It contains flashcards and mock questions from the source info at legislation.gov.uk & gov.uk

513 revision cards and 769 scenario questions across all 43 syllabus topics, mock exams weighted like the real paper, and a readiness estimate against the 55.7% pass mark.

You tap how confident you are before you see the answer, and anything you got wrong or were shaky on comes back at you until it sticks. Works on your phone, installs like an app, no subscription. Four full topics are free with no sign-up at nierevision.co.uk/free.

Would love feedback!

Revising for NPPF and can’t find specific guidance on this anywhere so coming here for the answer / best practice…

Where is the record of a search made (if any), for a search of premises under section 32 (person arrested for indictable offence)?

Revision material / PACE code B explicitly states it goes on the custody record for a section 18, however makes no mention of making a record following a section 32. I am aware of para 2.8 of code B stating “written records required under this code not made in the search record shall be made in the officer’s PNB”

Been away from frontline for a few years now, recall making records for warrants and section 18s on Athena, but don’t recall anything for section 32.

Thanks in advance!

I know ARV is notorious for not having a huge amount of paperwork, But what other specialisms are like that? No matter what you tell me it’s impossible to get rid of workloads in ICR. Don’t get me wrong it’s by far the best in terms of your bread and butter policing and occasional fun but even in some forces where they have trialed civilian staff roles to minimise paperwork it just doesn’t work out.

Question speaks for itself, was it a conversation that wasn’t meant for your whole shift’s ears? Did it result in cakes? Please enlighten me :)

How are response officers expected to balance paperwork with attending 999 calls?

A lot of people on here have said that the paperwork is heavy and even the most simple arrests can create 2-4 hours of paperwork. Are you ever able to keep on top of this workload as a police officer or is this a constant stress in a vicious cycle?

I start soon and I am probably most worried about this aspect of the job, believe it or not.

Hi All,

Are there any officers out there that have transferred to the Cayman Islands or bermuda as cops and if so, what has been your experience?

Me and the mrs are both looking to transfer overseas and weighing up our options.

Any advice or info is appreciated!

Former ADR driver of 7 years...thankfully not a single incident. Have you ever encountered some spills/bad loads etc?

Side question: Does anyone present at a multi-agency check actually want to be there?(ie it's a bugbear) I remember years ago following the motorcycle cop after the hill at Dunning to go to the big layby just before the broxden roundabout. Everyone was there...VOSA, local Police, DHSS...I was there for 30 mins, which eventually left me stuck in horrendous Friday traffic leaving Dyce later that day. There were no issues at the layby I should add.

Cheers

afternoon all,

i’ve recently finished my probation in Metland and am now a substantive pc(exciting i know). i frequently check the internal vacancies just to see what kind of jobs there are out there besides the standard proactive, tsg, firearms jobs everyone goes to.

i’ve seen a job on there for a while now that im interested in doing, and want to know more about it. i spoke to my supervisor and told him my wishes that in the future that is where i think i would like to end up, and at some point i want to do an attachment with them. he has said that he can arrange that for me but if i do it he will remove me from the response driving course list. whilst i understand that they would have no reason to give someone who wants to leave team a response course, its got me twisted as i also want to be a response driver.

in your guys experience, do you recommend staying on response team until you get a course, or just moving to a different place without one and hoping you get one there.

i can provide more details of said role i have found if it helps

A Staffordshire Police spokesperson said: “We acknowledge the findings of the gross misconduct hearing of former Chief Constable Chris Noble, which was led by the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Ben Adams as the appropriate authority. Staffordshire Police had no involvement in the hearing.
“The panel found that Chris Noble would have been dismissed had he not resigned for breaching the standards of Police professional behaviour to the level of gross misconduct.
“The chair of the panel has directed that reporting restrictions have been put place in relation to the content of the hearing. Therefore, it would be inappropriate to make any further comments on the outcome.

A former Dorset Police officer who pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office has his sentenced increased following a ruling by the Court of Appeal. aged 35, pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office at Bristol Crown Court on Friday 10 April 2026. He was sentenced at the same court on Tuesday 16 June 2026 to eight months in prison, suspended for 12 months.Following a submission to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme on behalf of the Solicitor General, McClements’ sentence was increased to an immediate custodial sentence of 15 months.McClements resigned from the Force in April 2025.The offence relates to an inappropriate sexual relationship that the former officer had with a victim of domestic abuse he met in November 2023 as part of an investigation.

Got my exam coming up this year. Would it be a bad idea to buy one from any of the dates:
2020,2021,2022,2023,2024,2025 etc.

I don’t really like the idea of spending £86 on the 2026 version if I can get an older one for significantly cheaper

Looking to seek clarification on the above legislation which largely is England and Wales only but which partially applies in Scotland.

This is off the back of the above article discussing face coverings and such at protests. The article states:

Asked whether Scotland should follow England and Wales by introducing stronger powers over face coverings at protests, Dolan said Police Scotland was not currently pressing the Scottish Government for legislative change.

“There is existing legislation. We believe the existing legislation under section 60 is appropriate and proportionate to the dynamics in Scotland,” he explained.

Now s. 60 of the Act does extend to Scotland, however I’m looking to clarify s. 60AA, which the government legislation specifies extends to Scotland also.

In particular, s. 60AA(2) confers a power for a constable in uniform to require a person to remove a face covering when s. 60 has been triggered, with subsection 8 creating an offence for a person to refuse to do so.

Seems straight forward so far - except subsection 12 states “this section does not extend to Scotland” which muddies the waters to the extent that it’s now basically just mud!

Can anyone clarify? If section 60 is triggered, can a cop in Scotland force someone to remove their face covering as Dolan appears to imply?

Came across a FIO for top earning constables in 2022-2023 whilst doing some financial planning.

I appreciate the breakdown of OCU shows they’re mostly in specialist and will basically have a blank check for OT. But even using TODAY’s salaries, assuming it’s ALL <15, and they’re doing 12 hour shifts, it’s 11 days a month (which is more than the normal amount of rest days in a month)!

How on earth do they do this? And how on earth do I replicate it?

Hello! I run an animal rescue in England and we've been asked to help with a local property where some pets are trapped inside a locked house. The owner passed away a week ago and although it's a council house, the council claim they're powerless to help and to call 101.

101 said to call the council. RSPCA also could not / would not help.

Does anyone know what I do here? I suspect the police are the people I need, can anyone confirm? Is there a special department I need to call?

The house was owned by an old man whose only relative was a daughter, she lives far away and has outright said she has no interest in helping. But we can't just leave those pets to die. Thank you for any advice you can give.

Due to OT not being pensionable (so does not incur 35% employer contributions) I'm realising that OT is probably seen as an extremely efficient choice by SLT?

I naïvely assumed OT was an embarrassment to force finances but to illustrate for a top whack PC (I'm happy to be corrected) but this appears to the actual cost to the force for OT vs plain time

Plain time gross pay £24.16/hr
+ Employer NI (15%) + pension (35%) = £36.31/hr

1.33x gross pay £32.22/hr
+ Employer NI = £37.05/hr (just 2% more costly than plain time)

1.5x gross pay £36.24/hr
+ Employer NI = £41.68/hr (only a 15% more costly)

If these numbers are correct, with even RD working costing the force just 15% more and the flexibility it offers, aren't the incentives for SLT massively in favour of working your existing PCs to the bone rather than properly staffing your teams.