It might not come across as a shock to many, that nationally there are thousands of Police Officers under investigation by their forces.
I know a lot are considering joining railway for different roles from entry level to Driver.
If an Officer resigned during gross misconduct investigation, would they stand a chance to join Railway?
Albeit it’s highly likely it will be disclosed on their employment references. Any insights from personal experiences will be much appreciated.
I come from a strong policing background and I have to say that in recent years, more serving cops are being sacked than ever before. The standards of professionalism have always been considerably high in policing, but following multiple police scandals in the 2000s & 2010, misconduct regulations were amended in 2018 with the introduction of the College of Policing (CoP) Barring Policy.
Since then cops are being investigated and sacked for trivial things that 20 years ago would have been dealt with via a reprimand from an Inspector or kindly words of advice. A former colleague lost his job in January after sending a private jokey text message on WhatsApp to a third party that was considered to be sexist. I’m not defending his actions nor am I am justifying sexist behaviour, but this was man with 25 years service and probably one of the most professional cops you would meet. To the best of my knowledge he was never subject to any previous serious complaints during his service and he did in fact receive a couple of commendations for his dedication to his work.
Most police officers can resign whilst under investigation, although in some cases the force professional standards can block a resignation or retirement. However, under CoP guidelines regardless of the officer jumping ship, a misconduct hearing will still go ahead in their absence weeks or months later in front of a chief officer.
For someone leaving under investigation, future employers will always want to know your work history, probably in the form of a CV. Invariably, when approaching any employment, a crucial question will be - why did you leave your last employment? If you say I resigned they may want to know why you left and I would always encourage honesty where possible.
Police officers have many transferable skills, but when I left the service myself a number of years ago because the job was making me unwell, I didn’t find prospective employers falling over themselves offering me jobs! Many jobs are extremely hard to come by and those in the railway, whether they are trainee drivers or supporting roles such as customer service based, will attract an avalanche of candidates.
On the topic of references, police forces will not provide references - they will merely provide dates of the officer’s services record and how they left - retired, resigned or dismissed. Very rarely will former police line managers provide references to ex-staff because it is frowned upon.
There is nothing to stop you exploring the world of railway employment but please be mindful that being a cop is not the golden ticket to getting a decent role within a train operating company. However, just be mindful of trying to hide any misdemeanours from the police as they can sometimes come back to bite you if you are not honest with new employers.
CJ
