Seventeen-year-olds are too young to join the police
SEVENTEEN-year-olds are too young to join the force says South Yorkshire Police Federation.
An amendment to the Police Regulations 2020 has lowered the recruitment age from 18 to 17 years old.
Recruits will not however be able to start in the role until they turn 18.
New recruitment guidance states: “Candidates aged 17 and above may apply to become a police officer and may take up appointment on reaching the age of 18 or above, if successful.”
While Steve Kent, South Yorkshire Police Federation Chairman, says he thinks at 17 officers would be too young to join he recognises that the different entry options open for youngsters to start their careers in policing need to be embraced.
“I think in the past I would have said 18 was too young to join policing; I was 18 and a half when I applied to join West Midlands Police and was told to come back in a couple of years when I had more life experience.
“That was the best advice that I ever had. I came back to South Yorkshire, my home force by that point, and I was far better prepared for it.
“So from that side of things, in the way that policing used to be, then yes 17 is too young. But now what we’re saying to people is, ‘come into the police, get a degree and then go out and be a police officer’.
“So even though I have major issues with the degree entrants and I don’t agree with it as a sole entry to policing, if we’re going to have that then it makes sense that people at the age of 18 can join because that’s the time they would be going to university.”
Steve says things have moved on and that 18 year-olds wouldn’t be pushed out onto the beat as they may have done in the past.
“I have interviewed 18 year-olds, and yes, they’re very young, but we’re not going to be throwing them out in the street in the same way we did years ago.
“They are going to be in and out with university – it puts a different dynamic on it.
“Ideally policing should offer a mixed system of entry. But if we’re just going to be focusing mainly on those people who we’re sending off to university for degrees then we have to try and get those people at 18 to attract the best people before they go off into other careers,” he added.
“They’re going to be in and out all the time for university. They’re not going to be left to rot on duty groups like we were back in the day.
“Obviously we do get experienced cops in and do that is just as beneficial, but we’ve got to embrace it. If that’s what we’re doing.”
The College of Policing said: “Reducing the age you can apply to be a police officer from 18 to 17 means the police service is able to attract people from the biggest possible pool of applicants at a time when it is looking to bring in unprecedented number of new officers.
“The restriction on 17-year-olds applying meant the service was at a disadvantage compared to other employers in England and Wales and was losing out on good potential candidates to other careers and professions.
“A number of forces requested this change to support their ongoing recruitment campaigns so the College of Policing and Police Uplift Programme worked to request the update to Police Regulations to widen access to policing whilst maintaining standards.”