THE largest single intake of police officers in Jersey has been sworn in at the Royal Court.

The 17 new recruits, 11 men and six women, joined the States of Jersey Police from various countries, including Jamaica, Australia, Poland, Portugal, England and Jersey. The youngest recruit was 21 and the oldest 43 and they included a former electrician, nurse and travel agent.

They were all recruited locally and successfully passed a series of tests and an extended interview day in October 2008 to qualify for entry into the force. The recruits will start the New Year as probationary constables and, if they are successful in the initial stages of their training, they will be available for supervised operational duties in June and July next year.

Acting Chief Officer David Warcup said: ‘We are very pleased to have a group of local people with such varied skills joining us. ‘We try to stress that this is a job which is open to people no matter what their qualifications are, or where they have worked in the past.

‘In the group joining us this month we have a former electrician, a former trainee accountant, someone studying for an MSc in global security and policing, people who have worked in the customer service industry, a former veterinary nurse and at least two people who have experience of working with young people.

‘You can see just from that group how varied the people are, as is the age range and their qualifications. Some have degrees in subjects as varied as golf studies to English language and literature and critical criminology and law. We are also pleased that there are people joining us in this intake who have a second language.’

When this group begin their careers they will be the fourth group of officers to be trained locally, rather than in the UK, said Mr Warcup. The newly sworn-in probationary constables face an intensive programme, based at Police Headquarters, Rouge Bouillon, with a balance between formal classroom work and the opportunity to deal with practical tasks to reinforce learning.

The course also offers an opportunity to gain experience of working with other agencies that have regular contact with the police. The training does not stop after the foundation course and probationers return to the training team for development courses throughout their probationary period.

‘The probationers become fully-fledged officers after two years, but some exceptional ones complete their probation within 18 months,’ Mr Warcup added.

• Pictured on the steps of the Royal Court, following their swearing in, are: 
Back row (from left): Bogdan Jagodka, Adrian Seymour, Jason Francis, Shaun Jacob and James Perrett
Middle row: Anthony Graham, Carlos Fernandes, Alex Guelpa, Allan Bale, Michael Devlin and Rudi Holzmeier
Front row, Carla Baptista, Daria Harasymowicz, Treena Myers, Emma Poulliquen, Carly Bolton, Nicola Billson. Picture by Rob Currie (00611922)