15 new apprentice officers formally join Hertfordshire Police

Hertfordshire Constabulary has welcome 15 new apprentice police officers to its force.

Deputy Chief Constable Bill Jephson formally welcomed them to the force at a passing out parade earlier this month.

Hertfordshire Police runs a fully-funded degree apprenticeship, with a salary starting at £29,682. It is a three-year, work-based practical course which enables apprentices to join as a police officer and achieve a BSc (Hons) degree in Professional Policing Practice.

The latest group to join the force is made up of eight men and seven women, including an ex-warehouse operative, two sales assistants, a former accountant, customer assistant, delivery driver and an ex-nursery nurse.

Family and friends of the students attended police event, held after the group finished their first stage of police training.

DCC Jepson gave them framed certificates, he said: “It is a pleasure to be with you today to celebrate your achievements and welcome you to our very special team.

"You have all been successful in graduating from your initial stage of training and you are some of the first to join us on the PCDA programme.

“You have absorbed an incredible amount of information and you will now put that knowledge into practice, learning new skills and building experience working on the streets in our communities. This job will inspire you, stretch you, amaze you, test you, satisfy you and might even delight you at times. There will not be a day when you don’t have an opportunity to make a difference to someone else’s life. To restore order to their chaos or to provide some humanity and compassion to a human tragedy.

“Policing is about service and people, putting the public first, offering a local, personalised and friendly approach to all of those within our community and working together to prevent crime and harm. Highly visible policing is a key part of what we try to achieve within Hertfordshire and we now have more officers than ever before.”

Three of the apprentice officers will be posted in Hatfield; two in St Albans; two in Hemel Hempstead; two in Potters Bar & South Mimms; one in Royston; one in Borehamwood; one in Watford; one in Letchworth; one in Hoddesdon; and one in Hitchin.

More details can be found online.