Police Constable Entry Programme (PCEP)

The PCEP is an entry route into policing aimed at talented individuals from an armed forces background.

Throughout the two-year duration of the programme, successful applicants will to obtain a Level 5 Diploma in Professional Police Practice, while working and earning a full salary.

The PCEP programme is delivered in partnership with the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) and includes classroom delivery, practical application and tutorship. The programme is split between UWE’s Frenchay and Glenside campuses and Police Headquarters in Portishead.

You will be classed as a full-time student and so will be able to take advantage of student benefits.

Successful applicants are not required to contribute towards the cost of their Level 5 qualification but remain on probation for the two-year duration of the programme.

Following completion of the two-year programme, individuals will be provided with the option to pursue an additional year of learning to obtain a bachelor’s degree.

Our police officers are often the first people that members of the public meet when they contact us for help and will respond to a wide variety of incidents such as theft, complaints of anti-social behaviour, domestic violence and assault.

As a police officer you will:

• respond to emergency calls for assistance from the public
• meet and support multiple individuals in any given shift
• understand the needs of individuals to assess immediate risks and that the appropriate steps to protect members of our communities from harm
• engage with individuals from all backgrounds
• demonstrate your ability to adapt to the needs of the current situation and communicate with empathy and genuine compassion
• work well under pressure
• demonstrate resilience whilst working in a dynamic environment
• focus on delivering a positive result and adapting to new developments

Our officers use their professional judgement to ensure that everyone who contacts us receives the correct support every time, whether this is required in the short or longer term.

Your role as a police officer will allow you to challenge yourself, develop your leadership skills and make a difference to the lives of those that you have supported by helping them when it is needed most.

Read how Pola turned her volunteering role into a career when she joined us as a police constable working in the response team.

Candidates joining through the PCEP will start on pay point one of the police constable pay scales. This will increase annually on the anniversary of your joining date.

• Year 1 (pay point 1): £28,551
• Year 2 (pay point 2): £29,751

As a police officer, you will be contracted to work 40 hours per week and both your classroom and on-the-job training aligns to these working hours.

While in tutorship and working as an operational police officer, you will work to a 24/7 shift pattern consisting of:

• two early shifts (07:00-16:00)
• two late shifts (14:30-23:00) and
• two nights (22:00-07:00) followed by rest days

Flexible working patterns will be considered against the requirements of service delivery but periods of learning delivery will be in 40-hour week blocks.

In your first six weeks, you will undertake personal protection training, driver training, system training as well as classroom learning based at Police Headquarters.

After this initial period, you will enter into tutorship working with a 24/7 response team to put your acquired skills and knowledge into practice in order to achieve Independent police status (if you have already achieved this by serving as a Special Constable you will receive coaching and mentoring on your team).

You will then follow a programme to achieve full occupational competence over a two-year probation period.

To find out how to apply for a police officer role, view our PCEP recruitment process.