Taxi drivers among new Metropolitan Police recruits making career change

Badge image credit: Met Police

Taxi drivers and athletes are among the latest Metropolitan Police recruits as the force calls on Londoners who are interested in changing career to apply to join during this National Apprenticeship Week.

The Met continues to grow and have launched new ways to join them. Its Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship Programme (PCDA), which formally recognises policing as a profession, will provide new recruits with the knowledge and skills police officers demonstrate every day. 

An athlete, a taxi driver and a prison officer are among the 143 new constables who joined the Met in January. The starting salary for PCDA route is £30,006 inclusive of allowances, rising to circa £33,000 on successful completion of the three-year programme. 

Former student, PC Gurpreet Kaur, said: “Becoming a police constable with the Met is an incredible opportunity for me to help the public and keep London safe. Policing may be a challenging job at times but it is also extremely rewarding and no two-days are ever the same.”

On successful application, new police officer recruits will start their training by attending one of four London universities. They will learn the history and culture of the area they’ll be working in, as well as learning about the lived experiences and challenges faced by the local communities; they will hit the streets alongside experienced police officers in the communities they will go on to serve. 

Their ‘on the job’ and classroom based learning covers in depth topics such as public protection, evidence based policing, crime investigation, and community policing. To enhance this, the recruits will also spend time working alongside experienced investigators, specialist teams focusing on violent crime, emergency response teams and safer neighbourhood teams.  

Former paramedic and mental health trauma manager, PC Rachael Brown, said: "I have always wanted to work with people and make a difference. From the young age of nine I knew I wanted to be a police officer and train as a detective. But being fortunate enough to experience the range of opportunities the Met has to offer - who knows where I might progress to. I am really looking forward to the whole experience and really challenging myself.”

Throughout their three-year training programme, recruits will return to university for short blocks of learning but will remain first and foremost a police officer from day one. 

Upon successfully completing all elements of the apprenticeship, they will be awarded a BSc (hons) degree in Professional Policing Practice and will be confirmed in rank as a police constable.   

Following this, they can go on to pursue one of many specialist roles, should they wish to. Training as a detective, a specialist firearms officer or working in counter terrorism are just a few of the wealth of career opportunities Met can offer.  Met’s Director of Learning, Alex Walsh, said: “This is a very exciting time for our newest recruits as they take their first steps in what I’m sure will be a rewarding career where they can thrive and make a real difference to the lives and safety of many Londoners.

“The apprenticeship programme provides an exciting opportunity to gain a widely recognised degree qualification, which acknowledges the variety of knowledge and skills that is required to be a police officer and do the extraordinary things our officers do every day.

"They join an exceptional and highly skilled police service, where they will receive the support to become the very best they can be, as well as excellent training that will equip and prepare them for the unique challenges of policing a city like London. 

“Joining the Met as a police constable through our apprenticeship programme really is an exciting opportunity and one we hope will help encourage Londoners – particularly those from our Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities to consider – to think about a career in policing."