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The UK’s official graduate careers website
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Police officers are required to undertake ongoing training and emphasis is placed upon regular supervision, guidance and support. All police officers must complete a two-year probationary period, after which there are a wide variety of career opportunities available.
The police force has a clearly defined rank structure:
After successful completion of the probationary period, officers are eligible to apply to work in specialist units such as the criminal investigation department (CID), fraud squad, drugs squad, fire arms, child protection, traffic, mounted branches, dog handlers, underwater search units, river police and air support. Officers can take qualifying examinations for promotion to sergeant and similar examinations for progression from sergeant to inspector. There are no qualifying examinations to ranks above inspector and promotion is by selection only.
The Police High Potential Development (HPD) Scheme in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is designed to develop the future leaders of the police service. Training and support are available to help individuals to move through the ranks into senior positions within the force. Promotion is not automatic and depends on the individual's own efforts. The National Senior Careers Advisory Service (NSCAS) is a follow-on stage to the HPD scheme and is a bespoke service to identify training and development needs of superintendents (or equivalent) to support further progression. The HPD scheme and NSCAS are currently under review and should be available in their new formats in April 2008. See the National Policing Improvements Agency (NPIA) for updated information. The Accelerated Promotion Scheme for Graduates (APSG) in Scotland invites applications from graduates aspiring to senior positions within the service, providing them with a structured career path.
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