Teachers' TV lesson plan

Title

BTEC First Diploma PUBLIC SERVICES- Police Service Work Booklet

Associated Teachers’ TV programmes

FE: Teaching for the Future: A Wake Up Call

Programme description

How changing the classroom layout can involve students

Note to teachers

This lesson plan was not created by Teachers' TV but the author has allowed us to publish it here to be used for educational purposes

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE POLICE

There are 43 police services in England and Wales, all of them sharing a common purpose and commonvalues.

These are to:

  • Uphold the law fairly and firmly
  • Pursue and bring to justice those who break the law
  • Keep the Queen’s peace
  • Protect, help and reassure the community
  • Operate with integrity, common sense and sound judgement

These are the roles and responsibilities the police are required to fulfil, however many police services also set local priorities, which depend on the need of their area.

Most services also have individual mission statements, which sum up the aims of the particular constabulary.

Each service will also have individual performanceindicators, which tell the public and the government how well a particular service is performing.

Most police services will have the above information on their websites.

WHAT DO THE POLICE ACTUALLY DO?

The police do a great deal more work than most people are aware of. Most people think it is just responding to 999 calls. Other duties include:

ponding to non-emergency calls such as noise nuisance, abandoned vehicles and dealing with stray animals

  • Completing a huge amount of paperwork
  • Improving community relations
  • Reducing the fear of crime by maintaining a visible police presence on the streets
  • Working in partnership with other agencies to reduce crime
  • Crime prevention
  • Giving evidence in court
  • Crime investigation
  • Educational visits to schools and colleges
  • Firearms licensing
  • The licensing of pubs and clubs
  • Regulating door supervisors
  • Referring victims of crime to support agencies
  • Overseeing the procedure licensing betting offices
  • Underwater search
  • Missing persons’ reports
  • Providing advice and information on personal safety and protection of property
  • Providing the government with information and statistics
  • Escorting of abnormal loads
  • Holding people in police custody

These are only some of the jobs that the police must do in order to fulfil what the public and government require of them.

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF WORKING IN THE POLICE

POSITIVE / NEGATIVE
It is an interesting and varied job / Unsocial hours / shift work interfering with personal and family life
There are plenty of opportunities for career development and progression / Risk to personal safety
You will work as part of a team and make friends / Unpleasant nature of some of the work such as dealing with child abuse cases
You will meet different people every day / Public attitudes towards the police are not always positive
You have the opportunity to change job roles throughout your career / Not just a 9-5 job, you must uphold the standards of the police service in your off-duty hours too
Good rates of pay compared with other services / Responsibility for people’s safety is in your hands, you can’t afford an ‘off’ day
Excellent pension and benefits /
You get to retire at 55
Secure employment
Ongoing training

Can you think of any other positive or negative aspects about working in the police service?

You are a police recruitment officer who is giving a talk to a local college about opportunities in the police service. The students in the class ask you the following questions, and you must answer them as fully as you can.


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