Are you seeking a career that makes a difference?
We are opening our recruitment for Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and we want you to join us.
As the key link with communities across Sussex, our PCSO’s play a critical and visible role in helping keep our communities safe, identifying and protecting the most vulnerable and preventing harm.
In return, we offer you a good starting salary, great training experiences, opportunities for progression, and to achieve a professional qualification - Level 4 Diploma in Community Policing Practice – with the pride and personal reward that comes from helping others.
Please be advised that in the circumstance we receive a high volume of applications, it may be necessary to close this vacancy early. We recommend submitting your application as early as possible.
The Role
Our PCSO’s play a vital part in keeping Sussex safe.
Being a PCSO offers a challenging, yet incredibly rewarding career. Working alongside our policing prevention teams to prevent and tackle local issues; you will be out and about on the streets of Sussex, building relationships within the community and winning the trust of the public.
You will encounter a range of situations from dealing with anti-social behavior, taking statements from victims of crimes, providing reassurance and helping resolve community challenges. As a PCSO you are the face of local policing for the community, ensuring we meet our policing priorities. There are a range of duties/responsibilities some are listed below:
• Going on highly visible foot patrols.
• Reassuring the public after minor crimes or anti-social behaviour.
• Building relationships with community, religious and business leaders.
• Working with young people and local schools.
• Making house visits to gather intelligence.
• Collecting CCTV evidence.
• Carrying out missing person enquiries.
• Protecting crime scenes until police officers arrive.
• Providing crime prevention and personal safety advice.
• Offering support at large public gatherings, such as sports events and public demonstrations.
While PCSO’s do not have powers of arrest and are not involved in interviewing or processing prisoners, they do have the power for a wide range of situations including issuing fixed penalty notices, requiring contact details and seizing drugs.
By successfully completing the recruitment process, you will join Sussex Police as a PCSO through our new 12-month apprenticeship programme. This will give you the best possible training and, upon successful completion, you will achieve a Level 4 Diploma in Community Policing Practice – equivalent to a Higher National Certificate (HNC), foundation degree or the first year of an undergraduate degree.
Could this be you?
As the first point of contact for the community, you will require excellent communication skills, a good listener, calm, confident and compassionate. Think through the challenges and find solutions. Above all, you’ll simply care about the community and want to do what you can to keep it safe.
The role of a PCSO can be challenging, but also incredibly rewarding. If you want to help keep your community safe, then join us now and help make a difference, together.
Are you eligible?
The following is our key eligibility criteria:
• You must be aged 18 at date of application – no upper age limit
• You must have lived in the UK for three continuous years immediately prior to application
• Have leave to enter or leave to remain and work in the UK for an indefinite period
• Have a full UK manual driving licence (by the time of appointment)
• Not be a member of the British National Party (BNP) or other relevant organisations
• Not have tattoos which could cause offence
• Not have more than six penalty points on your licence
• Not have served a prison sentence
It is a requirement of the apprenticeship completion that individuals must have achieved Level 2 functional skills / GCSE in both Maths and English. If you do not have this at the time of your appointment as a PCSO, we will support you in achieving this.
If successful at meeting the eligibility requirements you will need to complete an initial assessment to demonstrate a functional skills level one before your application can be progressed to the next stage.
What we offer you
We value all our staff and provide many benefits.
For PCSOs the pay and holiday benefits are as follows:
• Starting salary of £22,047 plus unsocial hours shift allowance in the region of £5,000 per year.
• Fully-funded professional qualification – Level 4 Diploma in Community Policing Practice.
• 6 hours per year annual leave, rising to 214.6 hours per year depending on your length of service. (A standard full time PCSO working day is 8.25 hour, this equates to approximately 21 days per year). In addition, you will receive 8 Public Holiday days per year.
• A competitive benefits package including pension, flexible benefits, employee assistance programme for advice and counselling, access to discounts / savings / cash-back rewards.
• A progressive approach to flexible working, enhanced maternity and paternity leave and potential for a career break (after two years’ service).
• Opportunities to join various support networks, staff associations and sports clubs.
Additional Information
As a PCSO, you will work shifts. You will have a rotating shift pattern covering the full week Monday to Sunday between the hours of 8:00am and midnight, so you will need to be prepared to work weekends and Bank Holidays. The standard shift pattern is attached below.
It is anticipated that successful applicants will join us on training intakes in June 2021 or October 2021. A limited number of positions may be available to fulfil our February 2021 intake. The role of PCSO is tenured for 24 months, meaning that you will not be able to start a new position within the force during this time. You may however be able to apply for roles with longer recruitment timeframes e.g. police officer.
In addition to standard vetting requirements, this requires the post-holder to successfully pass biometric vetting. Successful applicants who receive a conditional offer of employment for this role will be required to provide fingerprint and DNA samples by consent. A speculative search against local and national databases will take place prior to appointment and any final offer of employment will be conditional upon the results meeting the required vetting standard. Upon appointment the fingerprint and DNA profile for the post-holder will be added and retained on the respective Police Elimination Database (PEDb), to be used for elimination purposes.
Diversity Information
Sussex Police are committed to providing quality in the service we deliver, the career opportunities we offer our people and to increase the diversity of our workforce to reflect the community we serve. We value diversity and inclusion and want to attract the best people for the roles available regardless of age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, disability, social status and religious beliefs. We want to do all we can to encourage fair and inclusive opportunities, helping us to ensure that all individuals are properly supported and represented. We are committed to the elimination of unfair discrimination and we are determined to ensure that all or employees receive fair and equitable treatment. We are particularly keen to hear from applicants who are from different ethnic backgrounds and experiences.
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