Understanding the Human Service: A Focus on the Role of Police Officer in UK

This essay focuses on the role of police officer in UK as a human service profession. It outlines the job opportunities, required skills, policies and regulations, demerits and benefits of working as a police officer.

UNDERSTANDING
HUMAN SERVICE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY............................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
The field of human service is dynamic and this can be termed as interdisciplinary
practice of serving. Human service focuses on overcoming adversity thorough strength-based
approach. Human service is the approach to meet human needs through inter disciplinary
knowledge base which focuses on prevention and on maintaining a commitment to improve
the overall quality of life of service population (Bouranta, Siskos and Tsotsolas, 2015). The
human service profession is the one which promotes service delivery systems by focusing on
quality of direct services continuously improving accessibility accountability and
coordination among professionals and agencies in service delivery. The purpose of human
profession is to assist individuals and communities to function as effectively as possible. This
essay will outline the understanding of the human service.
MAIN BODY
Police officer is one of the human service professions which can be defines as a
profession who is a warranted law employee of police force. As a police officer, there are
several roles and responsibilities which are performed by a police officer, some of these
includes- detection, reporting crime, assistance to general public and maintaining public
orders. Asa police officer, they can work into different sectors, which are law enforcement,
public safety, civil; service, public service and protection of private property.
Since 1730's local improvement act of provision for paid watchman in local
authorities to 1964 and current scenario police act police areas was established where larger
area is covered by 1 greater police this field has been developing and is a diverse field of
knowledge. The idea of professional policing was given by sir Robert peel when he was
working as home secretary in 1822. Peel metropolitan police act 1829 started a full-time
professional and Central organized police force which was known as metropolitan police for
greater London. The metropolitan college was directly accountable to home secretary (Brown
and Alexander, 2020). Police officer you must maintain law and order protect public and
property prevent crime improve quality of life. A police officer is responsible to protect
public from crime support victims and witness crime the providing reactions to local public in
the humming tree. Responsibility improve the quality of life ides perpetrators of crime
supports in maintaining public order through combat time organized crime. Police officers

are further ranked on the basis of their designation from entry level to higher level job role.
The rank which is followed for defining the job ole of police officers are Constable, Sergeant,
Inspector, Chief Inspector, Superintendent, Chief Superintendent, Assistant Chief Constable,
Deputy Chief Constable and Chief Constable.
As a police officer, a professional is expected to develop community knowledge,
conduct patrol, conduct arrest, respond to public calls and incidents, maintain peace within
the community, prepare crime reports and present case files. These ranks are the job
opportunities as a police officer in UK where a professional can work for the community. In
order to become a police officer, a person can enroll themselves in a specific university
course, college course and apprenticeship program through which they can work towards this
program and get selected for the job role of a police officer in UK (Chenoweth and
McAuliffe, 2017). A professional Policing Degree must be scored before joining the force. In
order to become a police officer, some of the programs such as- Police Now graduate
leadership scheme, Diploma in Policing, Certificate in Public Services, National Diploma in
Uniformed Protective services and through Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship program
can be helpful in strengthening the career as a police officer in UK. There are various career
paths as a police officer, some of the other domains can be CID, counter-terrorism, drugs or
firearms, dog handling, air support and many others.
In order to become a police officer in UK, a candidate must pass the standard police
initial recruitment teste which analyses the fitness, medical conditions and education of the
candidate. Some pf the key skills which are required as a police officer are open-mindedness,
maturity, responsible, strong interpersonal skills, communication skills, teamworking skills,
problem solving skills and negotiating skills and others. Policies are the foundation of for all
re operations performed by police officers in regards of law enforcements (Hope, 2016). The
policies such as uniforms standards, guidance, desired expectations and other policies helps
police officer in connecting to their work and meeting all desired organizational objectives by
meeting their desired performance standards and legal protocols. Some of the policies and
regulations of the police officers in UK are to protect confidential information, developing a
culture of accountability, establishing a agency culture which cam embrace duty to intervene,
special work and law enforcement, police training policies, drone policy, freedom of
information and many other policies and regulations. These policies and regulations are
followed by police officers through which they can collectively make the community a better
place and maximize their profitability.

As there are several positions in police department, constable is the firs rank position
in the police department and holds basic powers in the department. As a constable, they can
enforce criminal, civil and traffic laws. There are different level of position which has
different level of work and these levels can start from entry to higher level and each
personnel focuses on meeting their desired performance standards and achieve their targets.
There are various benefits which can be availed by a person in their profession as
police officer, some of these can be- strong job growth opportunity, can feel respected and
pride at every place, can avail various employee benefits and get good salary for working fir
the overall community. As a police officer, a person can enjoy high reputation in the society
and can secure good and string future job opportunities (Hope and et.al, 2016). This job role
will help in overcoming fear and will support in enhancing the overall condition of the
community through which a better living place can be maintained. While working as a police
officer, it can be rewarding and can offer learning experience through which carer and
mindset can be shaped and this will also encourage in working for the people and for overall
society. As a police office, they can shape their community through which they can
contribute top development of the economy and such practices will be recognized and
rewarded by authorities through which they can work more effectively. As a police officer a
candidate can work dedicatedly and ensure success and a pathway to more senior designation
through which they can excel in their career and meet their level of satisfaction. Some of the
success which has been achieved by the police department and police officers can be seen
through justice, their rewards and through decline in crime rate in their community.
There are various demerits for working as a police officer and some of these can be
related to their experiences at workplace as police officers are responsible for face human
misery every day and such factors acts as stressors which can negatively influence their
ability and mental heath. There are various downfalls which are faced by police officers and
police departments, some of these can be seen through due to global pandemic which has led
to decline in number of police officers and this increased various incident happening in the
community (Venema, 2016). Due to incline in staffing problem, this has been a factor for
downfall in the police departments which has increased the crime rate in the community. The
rate of retirement has increased nearly by 30% which created an adverse impact on the large
and small police departments and affected the overall economy negatively.

CONCLUSION
In a nutshell, it can be understood that human services offer services to human being
and have variety of job opportunities through which they can meet their desired objectives.
This can be understood that there are ample of opportunities in human service through which
such professionals can offer services of people and work for the betterment of the
community. This can be seen that a police officer is responsible for maintaining peace,
resolving conflicts and crimes and ensuring all rules and regulations are followed in the
community. A police work works in partnership with community they serve which supports
them in maintaining the law and order, protect people and property, investigate crimes and
offer a safe environment and quality of life to general public.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bouranta, N., Siskos, Y. and Tsotsolas, N., 2015. Measuring police officer and citizen
satisfaction: comparative analysis. Policing: An International Journal of Police
Strategies & Management.
Brown, T. and Alexander, R., 2020. Child abuse and family law: Understanding the issues
facing human service and legal professionals. Routledge.
Chenoweth, L. and McAuliffe, D., 2017. The road to social work & human service practice.
Cengage AU.
Hope, L., 2016. Evaluating the effects of stress and fatigue on police officer response and
recall: a challenge for research, training, practice and policy. Journal of Applied
Research in Memory and Cognition. 5(3) pp.239-245.
Hope, L and et.al., 2016. Memory and the operational witness: Police officer recall of
firearms encounters as a function of active response role. Law and human
behavior. 40(1). p.23.
Venema, R. M., 2016. Police officer schema of sexual assault reports: Real rape, ambiguous
cases, and false reports. Journal of interpersonal violence. 31(5). pp.872-899.