Portsmouth University - Policing and Investigation (Distance) BSc

[u/jdaisym]

Hi, I was just looking for real reviews/experiences from people who have studied this course. It seems great and exactly what I’m looking for but I’m struggling to find any info from people who have actually studied it.

I’m not necessarily looking at being frontline police, but a more behind the scenes job as police staff. I’m 26 and this would be a career change as I’m currently working in Accounting, but my passion is in anything crime/forensics based. I can’t go to uni in person, other wise I would be looking at forensic science. This seems like a good degree to help me pursue a career with the police, which I’m currently applying for admin/assistant type roles to get my foot in the door.

I’d appreciate hearing any experiences relating to this specific course, advice or any other relevant info!

Thanks in advance :)

[u/Specialist_Spot3072]

You don't really need a degree to be a Police civvy (source: did it myself). Completely up to you if you did want to go to uni, you might need it for a few roles but worth checking the websites for vacancies.

[u/jdaisym → u/Specialist_Spot3072]

Yeah I just never went to uni so I’ve been considering studying part time for a while now anyways. My local police force is apparently very hard to get into so I thought it may also make my CV a bit more appealing! I just don’t want to end up doing a crap or useless course!

[u/Specialist_Spot3072 → u/jdaisym]

With Police staff roles it's more just providing strong answers to the STAR type competency questions tbh. Don't think a degree will help too much unless they specifically ask for it.

If you are happy to share the forces name here or on DM with me i'd very happy to look into a bit more, and give you a hand with some applications.

You can definitely aim higher than admin type roles as a starting role for sure. I did crime management straight out school with 0 starting experience.

[u/jdaisym → u/Specialist_Spot3072]

Thank you I appreciate the advice, that’s really helpful and I will look more into the STAR type questions.

I’m not comfortable sharing the forces name but there haven’t been many vacancies at all since I’ve been looking so I just thought studying a degree may help me to stand out. There are currently 3 vacancies advertised across the whole agency, for example. I’m checking every day but some of the entry level roles list essential experience that’s quite niche, such as ‘significant recent experience in a incident management centre’, which rules out a lot of them for me. I only have experience in customer service (retail) and accounts/officed based roles.

How did you find the crime management role and did it lead on to other opportunities for you?

[u/Specialist_Spot3072 → u/jdaisym]

Yeah it can really vary, but there was always roles popping up so hopefully the same for your area too! I would suggest going for them anyway, it'll be fine if they are entry level type roles and you have other experience which is very applicable and transferable.

Crime management role was really interesting at first and I learned a lot, but it got very boring after a while. Still it taught me a lot of essential skills and I was able to become a Police Officer from there which has given me a ton of new skills. I've had some time out of the Police to do a degree but I'm now looking at roles in different areas of law enforcement and finding that all the skills I learned are highly applicable and useful.

Going back to the degree. If you really want to do a degree I definitely would steer clear of something like Policing and Investigation and instead either do a Forensic Science type degree to help you get into a scenes of crime type job or if you like the look of Digital Forensics (phone downloads and what-not then do a computing degree).

Also look into volunteering with the Police. I was a special constable for a while but I believe there were opportunities to volunteer in staff roles too. Good for experience and networking.

I'm also not sure how big your force is but you could look at surrounding counties if the commute isn't too long or you could work from home.

[u/jdaisym → u/Specialist_Spot3072]

Maybe you’re right and I need to just try applying for them, I’ve been too nervous to apply unless I meet every single one of the criteria! It’s good to hear about your experience and I’m glad it was able to lead to a career in policing for you. As much as I’d love to get a degree in forensic science, I can’t financially afford to only work part time, especially for the 6 years it would take to complete. That’s why I thought this specific course may be a good idea as it seemed a bit more broad than just ‘policing’, and I can study online alongside a full time job. The core modules seem to be focussed on policing, criminal justice, the legal system and investigations. Then there are optional modules to choose from, some of which are forensic psychology, forensic investigation, cybercrime & security, organised crime etc. Maybe I need to look into it a little more, as getting into a scenes of crime type job would be an absolute dream. Also thanks for suggesting the volunteering roles, I will definitely look into this!

[u/Specialist_Spot3072 → u/jdaisym]

Nah don't worry. I don't meet the criteria for some of the stuff I'm applying for and I have about 4 years law enforcement experience so it's a bit silly sometimes.

Yeah I know but just trying to think what would be actually useful for you. Don't get me wrong that degree sounds really cool and interesting, just don't know if it has any value. Yeah SOCO seems awesome, hopefully you can get an opportunity with them.

People in the Police are either some of the most miserable people or the friendliest people you can meet, if you can network a little with the second kind of person it'll help massively.

[u/jdaisym → u/Specialist_Spot3072]

Thank you for all of the advice, I appreciate it!