The Police has a lot in common with the army
There are a lot of similarities between the army and a Police, for example both wear uniforms and follow a strict ethical code, both the army and the Police are sworn to protect people. Both types of forces operate in stressful conditions that ordinary people would run from. It is no surprise then that after recent army cutbacks and redundancies that many ex-soldiers are choosing to join the ranks of the Police.
Transferable key-skills
Ex-army candidates can usually display
all of the key-skills required by the Police as they themselves have
direct experience of using them in their previous role. Previously
being in the army usually guarantees that the applicant will be able
to meet the physical demands of the job as well as the mental ones
such as being able to focus under pressure and display mental
resilience to the sometimes shocking things that they may see in
their daily work.
Being a Police officer also required
applicants to be able to respect the chain of command and operate
exclusively within the responsibilities of their rank. This is
something ex-army members are usually able to excel at as it is often
drilled in to them from their very first day in the army that they
must respect the chain of command.
As well as this, the Police offers a
sort of 'half way house' between serving in a military capacity and
reintegrating in to civilian life particularly if they've come back
from active combat.
The Police application forms are becoming harder to get
The increasing number of ex-soldiers
applying to join the Police means that competition is becoming more
fierce than ever and the caliber of applicants is increasing. While
this may be good for the Police it is making the already difficult
task of becoming a Police officer or indeed even getting one of the
limited number of application forms, even more difficult.