Information on Loughborough

Confirmation ceremony for first student officers to finish new training programme

Posted on 04/09/2008

The first group of student officers to complete the new national police training programme across the North of Leicestershire have been invited to a Confirmation Ceremony to mark the end of their two year training period.

The officers, who are all based at stations in the North of Leicestershire, will be presented with their certificates by the North Area Chief Superintendent, Daimon Tilley, and the Mayor of Charnwood, Councillor Stephen Campbell.  They can bring two guests to the ceremony at Loughborough police station on the afternoon on Thursday 4 September 2008.

The nine officers are the first intake of new recruits to complete the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme (IPLDP) which was introduced in July 2006.

Instead of spending more than three months at a training centre in Ryton near Coventry, student officers now spend 23 weeks at De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicester studying for a foundation degree in policing.  The course has a strong local focus, an emphasis on community engagement and enables student officers with family commitments to stay close to home.  The officers are required to spend at least 80 hours getting involved in community projects.

Once the officers finish at DMU they spend a further 12 weeks ‘in company' with a regular officer and at the end of that period, assessors determine whether they are ready for independent patrol.  They then spend the rest of their two year probationary period working at their local police stations where the focus of the programme moves to distance learning.

PC Paul Noble, one of the trainers in the North Area Professional Development Unit, said: "The new training programme was introduced two years ago to ‘professionalise' the police force by offering recruits the chance to get a formal qualification and to be trained in their local area which gives them a greater understanding of the communities they are responsible for policing.  The officers have been involved in their local communities through voluntary work at local social clubs and support groups and their training has taught them about the law but, for the first time, there is a greater emphasis on problem solving and understanding the reasons why people offend.

"It is a challenging but very rewarding course and the officers have all worked very hard. They now have a foundation degree and an NVQ level 3 and 4 in policing which will be useful for their future careers.  I am glad that we will be recognising the officer's achievement at the confirmation ceremony on Thursday and I look forward to watching them progress in their careers."

PC 4569 Aimee Ramm, who is based at Syston police station said; "It has been a challenge but I like a challenge.  I think we've had to learn a lot more far more quickly than before but I think it has given us a really solid foundation of knowledge and skills to build on.  It is a unique opportunity for someone who doesn't have a degree to get one and train to become a police officer at the same time. I am about to start training to be a tutor myself so I am looking forward to helping other student officers."

There are currently nine groups of officers going through the IPLDP.

Issued on 04/09/08 at 09:21