Police Officer Training

Staff  Development Unit

The Staff Development Unit (SDU) is situated in Wheatstone House, directly opposite the Gloucestershire Constabulary Headquarters, in Quedgeley, Gloucester.

One of the key functions of the SDU is to train Police Officers, Police Community Support Officers, Special Constables and Police Staff, not only for their initial training, but, also, throughout their Service careers.

Our training is delivered by a team of experienced trainers, who specialise in law, policing procedures, crime training, IT, officer safety and first aid. We are also grateful for the assistance of Gloucestershire Community members who voluntarily help us with role-plays, community placements, programme design, delivery and evaluation.

Training

New recruits are now trained in house, after a Government reform programme ended national training schemes in favour of locally delivered programmes.
 
The Initial Police Learning and Development Programme (IPLDP) will be delivered by the Constabulary to groups of Student Officers. During the two year programme Student Officers will get as much practical training as possible, providing us with the opportunity to train police officers for Gloucestershire in Gloucestershire.
 
Core themes for the course have been decided upon to sit comfortably both with the directives from the Home Office and the needs of our Constabulary in support of ‘Vision 2010’. These are, Working with our Community, Developing skills, Professionalism and, Performance.
 
The course will take place in two phases, interspersed with annual leave and will be non-residential. The initial phase of 14 weeks will see student officers training alongside other members of the policing family including PCSOs and police staff.

The first seven weeks (Module 1) will include;

• First Aid.
• Diversity.
• Community Placements.
• Visit to your INA/station.
• Neighbourhood Policing

Student Officers will also be expected to write a plan outlining how they intend dealing with a particular community issue.

Weeks seven to fourteen (Module 2)  include;

• Lessons about Crime Legislation.
• Officer safety.
• Role-play.
• Lessons about Road Policing.

After one week's leave, the Student Officer will move to Module 3; this will last for seven weeks and will build upon the basic elements learned in the initial phase. This module has been designed to allow the officer to spend time in the community, making their training more realistic.It will also help them to contextualise the role of police officer in the community they are to serve.

At the end of each module, the Student Officer will sit an exam, this is designed to give the training staff, and Student an indication of  knowledge level.
This part of the course is concluded by the Chief Constables Parade held at the County Headquarters in Quedgeley. Family members and friends are invited to this special occasion.

After a further week’s leave the officer will go to one of three Professional Development Units (PDU’s). These are based at Cheltenham, Gloucester and Stroud. There the Student officer will work alongside a Tutor Constable for a period of 10 weeks, during which time they will be assessed against the Police Action Checklist (PAC’s) set  by the Home Office.

On successful completion of training the Student Officer will be deemed fit to carry out independent patrol, during this period the officer will be expected to achieve the 22 National Occupational Standards (NOS) and Policing NVQ Levels 3 and 4,  to demonstrate their suitability to become a Police Officer. Completion of the NOS and NVQ will mean that the student will have completed their probation and will be confirmed in the rank of Constable.