18 new recruits welcomed to the force

Today we welcome 18 new recruits that start their journey into policing on the second cohort of the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA).

As a force we were an early adopter of the PCDA, which provides an exciting opportunity to become a paid police officer whilst gaining a fully-funded BA policing degree from the University of Derby.

The new recruits collected their uniforms today and will now split their time between core police officer training at force HQ and studying for their degree at the university.

Within the group, we welcome a former Nandos employee, engineer, swim teacher as well as students who were already in the force, including PCSOs and a call handler.

Assistant Chief Constable Paul Gibson said: “It’s great to welcome the second PCDA cohort to Derbyshire Constabulary today.

“They will now start an exciting and rewarding career path that will equip them with both core policing skills as well as wider theoretical knowledge from our partners at the University of Derby which can help them along the way.

“I wish them all the very best and hope that they enjoy a long and fulfilling career as officers in our force.”

The students will now begin their three-year-long training and are looking forward to the new experiences and going out with different departments in the force.

After 22 weeks of learning, they will then be set up with a one-to-one mentor that they will follow for 10 weeks.

The changes to police recruitment mean that all police officers across the country will have a degree level qualification upon entry to the force, or will be working towards one via the apprenticeship route.

It is currently anticipated that the change will fully be in place by 2020.