In a new feature, two of our new recruits will be publishing a weekly blog about their experiences in police training school.  Follow their progress and find out what it’s like to join Cambridgeshire Constabulary in 2015…

South Cambs police vehicles… photo by PC Adam Catling

Hello and welcome to blog number 5! I can’t believe it has been 5 weeks already, it’s gone so quick. This week was another heavy learning week, but with several guest speakers throughout who are specialised in particular areas of policing.

Doug-

Monday- Last Friday we learnt about stop search powers, so today was putting it into practice in a roleplay- and we were crewed together! We had a scenario whereby we had a report of two males acting suspiciously around a cash machine and we had to deal with them accordingly. Overall we did very well and we were both happy with how it went.

Tuesday- Tuesday morning we learned about Harassment and stalking, and the harassment notices and restraining orders that can be put in place to safeguard the victims. In the afternoon we had a very informative lesson with a Detective Constable who is a drugs expert. He showed us how he analyses drugs and all of the different classes of drugs.

Wednesday morning was all around assaults and wounding. Was quite a serious lesson, as we were taught about the categories of assaults ranging from common assault right up to murder. In the afternoon we watched a video relating to Tuesdays lesson on stalking on the case of Tracey Sant. Very sobering stuff.

Thursday was about anti-social behaviour, and how we should deal robustly with any reports of ASB. This also included the risk assessment we need to fill out every time we attend to ensure the safety and security of the public. In the afternoon a Detective Inspector from the intelligence department gave us a talk on the importance of intelligence that we receive from members of the public, and how to categorize it properly.

Friday began with our group giving a presentation regarding the police code of ethics, and how it fitted into the roleplay we did on the Monday morning. In the afternoon a Detective Inspector from the Domestic Violence unit gave us a presentation on Domestics and what to do at the scene. Cambridgeshire has a positive action policy at all domestics, with the absolute priority to safeguard the victims. This was followed by another sobering video of a real life case of Domestic Violence which ended badly. Somber end to the week, but overall it was very informative.

Jess –

On Monday Doug and I had a great time crewed together to perform out stop and search role plays. Doug took the lead searching the two males at the cash machine, whilst I did some of the admin and chatting to the boys – we both enjoyed working together!

Tuesday was very interesting with a drugs expert from Peterborough and Huntingdon. He brought in some samples that had been seized and sent to him for testing – it was very interesting seeing how the different drugs were wrapped, and their street value.

On Wednesday we learnt about different injuries – a scale varying from a verbal threat to murder. We learnt how to grade each injury, and what is classified as what. Some gruesome power points accompanied this lesson!

On Friday, our class started learning about The Mental Health Act, and the different powers used and how we can work with the partner agencies in order to help people effectively. This was very interesting. The afternoon brought in a Detective Inspector from the Domestic Abuse Unit. He emphasised how vital it was that police intervene straight away and treat every case very seriously. We went through all the paperwork that accompanied it, along with showing us a harrowing video about just how important safeguarding vulnerable domestic abuse victims really is.