Police officer : Employers and vacancy sources

There are currently 43 police forces in England and Wales - a list is available from the Association of Police Authorities (APA) - and they employ around 140,500 police officers, 14,000 volunteer special constables and 13,400 community support officers.

There are eight police forces in Scotland overseen by the Scottish Police Services Authority . Full details are available from Scottish Police Forces . There is a single police force in Northern Ireland.

Chief constables report to local police authorities (known as policing boards in Northern Ireland), which are independent statutory bodies identifying the strategic direction of police services. Pay, conditions of service and discipline are regulated by the Home Office , the Scottish Government Justice Department  or the Police Service of Northern Ireland .

Specialist forces, such as the British Transport Police , the Civil Nuclear Constabulary  and the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) , operate in their own areas in a similar way to the local forces.

Roles also arise within the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) , which is responsible for providing support in areas such as information and communications technology and national training and development programmes for future generations of police staff.

The Forensic Science Service (FSS)  is a government-owned company and is the key provider of forensic science services to police services in England and Wales. In Scotland, the Forensic Science Service is provided by the Scottish Police Services Authority  with four forensic science laboratories, in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Forensic Science Northern Ireland (FSNI)  is a government executive agency within the Northern Ireland Office.

Sources of vacancies

• Search graduate jobs on this site.
• Police Recruitment
• National, regional and local press.

Recruitment agencies, such as Police Vacancies , All Police Jobs  and Police Information  advertise roles for police officers who want to transfer services and for retired officers. Some support roles are advertised via the Civil Service Jobs Online .

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