Pros
The best thing for me about working here was finishing time, and that i met some really decent people on my shift. Not much else positive to say i'm afraid. Please think very carefully about joining Police Scotland.
Cons
Prisoners get treated better than officers, no welfare for officer unless there isn'tmuch happening, the initial training at college is rubbish and does not prepare you for life on the street, the job is nothing like it is made out to be trust me, they make it look interesting and exciting on the tv but it is nothing like this and can be very long hours without a break, horrendous hours and hours of paperwork and while trying to do this (which needs finished before the end of your shift regardless of the time) your still getting sent to calls, when arresting someone you can then be tied up for 4-5 hours with paperwork, very frustrating when you see the same people day in day out never getting held on at the end of a shift or certain ones who only answer 1 call per shift and they seem to make it last while your getting sent from call to call to call, management decisions are laughable and have no common sense behind them, it is very much a rank structure and your constantly reminded that you are at the bottom of the tree but then expected to go out and face a drugged up thug with a knife, very much a favourtism job especially what i seen towards females and if your face fits. You have no quality of life outside of this job, they will happily phone you on days off and cancel your rest days so you can go and work somewhere else like standing in a pitch black forrest all night yourself or sitting at a murder locus and cannot move from that spot, the job to me is sole destroying, you are basically a glorified skivvy sorting the lives out of people who are capable of doing it themselves but dont want to, you deal with the same people day in day out and it gets monotonous, you are just expected to stay on and deal with something while your line manager swans off home leaving the next shift gaffer in charge who couldn't give 2 hoots about you, i found myself always 'waiting to go to work' when i was at home or on days off and it depressed the life out of me, it is very much a culture of 'do as i say and not as i do' and some senior management seem very arrogant and look down on you like your nothing, some line managers are ok, the ones who are near retirement, but others are only interested in progressing themselves and getting the evidence they need to get promoted, this can be torture as they will try to take charge of an incident and royally make a pigs ear of it, basically repeating everything the officers dealing with it have just said on the radio. There are far better jobs out there with a lot less hassle and stress so my advice to anyone looking to start with Police Scotland is think very carefully, especially if you have a family / kids, as it really does take over your life and they genuinely think they own you when they hire you, They have no.issue phoning you and waking you up off a nightshift, and if they dont get an answer i've heard officers have been sent to the house to bang on the door of the officer they're looking for. The pay seems ok to start with but the deductions each month are criminal, from pension deductions which are a lot, about £300 per month as a new start then payments rising each year with your pay increase to other things they get you to sign up for in your 1st week of training which just eats away your wage every month. You get a tutor cop when you start on shift, some are good but some are egotistic power hungry maniacs, i had the latter and i had to bite my tongue constantly with the way i was being treated and spoken to, i expected a bit as the 'newbie' but this one was a child and didn't know when to stop. This to me is a young persons game as they may not know any better or have had a better job but for somwone with a bit of life experience this job is the worst i have ever had, a totally thankless job.
