The Custody Detention Officer role

Age

You must be at least 18 years of age to become a CDO. There is no upper age limit.

 

Cautions and Convictions

You may still be eligible to join the police service if you have minor convictions/cautions, but there are certain offences and conditions that will make you ineligible. This includes anyone who has received a formal caution in the last five years, committed a violent crime or public order offence. When making our decisions we are guided by the 03/2012 National Policing Improvement Agency Eligibility criteria for the role of police constable 2019.

 

Citizenship/Residency

You must be a British Citizen, citizen from the European Economic Area (EEA), Commonwealth citizen or foreign national with no restrictions on your stay in the United Kingdom. You must also have been continually resident in the UK for the three year period immediately before an application is made. This is to satisfy the requirement to vet all applicants in an equitable manner and the UK Police service does not currently have any means of facilitating vetting checks overseas, to the extent required of those who have been resident in the UK. Applicants who cannot be vetted, cannot be appointed.

 

Financial Status

All applicants will have their financial status checked. These checks are carried out because Custody Detention Officers have access to privileged information, which may make them vulnerable to corruption. Any applicants with outstanding County Court judgements, who have been registered bankrupt with outstanding debts, will be rejected. If you have discharged bankruptcy debts then you will need to provide a Certificate of Satisfaction with your application. Applicants who are the subject of a current Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) will not be considered.

 

Political Affiliation

South Wales Police has a policy of prohibiting any of our officers or staff from being members of the BNP, or a similar organisation whose aims, objectives or pronouncements may contradict the duty to promote race equality. If you are, or have previously been a member of the BNP or a similar organisation, your application will be rejected.

 

Qualifications

To join the Force in this role you will need to have a level 2 or above qualification in Maths & English (Grade A - C). Please note that you will be required to upload evidence of your level 2 English and Maths certificate at the same time as you submit your application.

 

Tattoos

Candidates with visible tattoos may be eligible for appointment. Each case will be considered on its own merits, taking into account the number, nature, size, prominence, appearance and location of the tattoos. Tattoos must not be offensive to colleagues or members of the public or undermine the dignity of your role within the Force. Tattoos on the neck, face or hands are still deemed to be unacceptable but consideration may be given in some circumstances considering the size, nature and prominence of the tattoo. If candidates choose to have any additional tattoos during the recruitment process, after passing eligibility checks, the onus is on them to advise HR and provide appropriate photographs which will need to be checked.

 

Eligibility disclaimer

Honesty is always the best policy in all aspects of our recruitment process. It is essential that you declare all relevant information to us during both the application and vetting stages of the process. We will ask you questions but you should also tell us anything else that you think may impact on your suitability to do the role. You must also inform the recruitment team overseeing your role of any change in circumstance during your application process. Click here for their contact information.

It is important to know that many personal circumstances do not necessarily stop you from being eligible to join. However, if you don’t disclose relevant information, we have to consider this as a deliberate omission and attempt to hide that information from us. If you do this it will be treated as a lack of honesty and integrity which will affect you going forward in future applications. If you would like to discuss your circumstances prior to application please email [email protected]

How long does the recruitment process take?

The recruitment period for this role will depend on operational capacity. We would expect the process to take 1 – 3 months.

 

Is there a minimum or maximum age limit for people to apply? 

You must be at least 18 years old to become a CDO. There is no upper age limit.

 

What qualifications will I need?

Candidates are required to have achieved at least GCSE A – C Levels in Maths and English.

 

What are the working hours?

As custody is a 24 hour, 7 day a week business, successful candidates will be required to work a shift pattern covering the business hours. This will involve weekend and night shift working in accordance with the 4 on 4 off pattern of 12 hours shifts; 2 days followed by 2 nights then 4 days off. 

Where will I be based?

Successful applicants will be based at one of the four operational custody suites, depending on which site currently has a vacancy. These are based in Cardiff, Swansea, Bridgend and Merthyr Tydfil.

 

Is there opportunity for career progression ?

There are supportive development programmes for other roles within the organisation which will allow you to enhance the valuable experience gained within the CDO role and take this forward into applications for other frontline roles such as Police Officer and Police Community Support Officer.  

You can complete the exercises on any internet-enabled device with a camera (laptop, tablet or phone), but to ensure full compatibility with the online platform, the following should be set up:

 

• Your operating system should be Windows 7 (or higher) or Mac OS 10.11 (or higher).
• Your browser should be the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome or Safari (Apple products only).
• You should have the latest version of Adobe Flash installed, and you require a webcam and microphone to record responses.

It is advisable to complete the whole application process on the same device as the IP addresses will conflict if you decide to swap devices once you have commenced and this could prevent you continuing with your application. It is therefore not advisable to complete your application in work.

 

Applicants are also advised to check their “junk” box for email updates from the system.

The first step will be an online application process which includes some eligibility ‘killer questions’. If you pass this stage you will be required to complete a Police Staff application form which will require you to evidence your skills against the competencies requested in the role profile which will be attached to the job advertisement.

 

Police Staff application guidance can be found here.

Your interview will be based on the competencies and values contained within the role profile which was attached to the advert, and which are also important to South Wales Police.

 

Use examples from your work, social, domestic or educational life to answer the interview questions. In these examples we are looking for specific evidence of competency behaviours which fit our organisation's values.

 

Be specific: we want to know what YOU said or did on a given occasion to deal with the situation. It’s therefore important that the examples you provide are your own experiences and as detailed as possible.

 

You will also be required to complete a role play exercise.  

 

If successful at the interview stage we will then start pre-employment checks.

Medical assessment

Due to the nature of police work, good health and fitness is paramount. However, applications are welcome from people with disabilities and every effort will be made to make reasonable adjustments if required. If you are successful at the interview stage you will undertake a medical examination.

There are certain medical conditions and disorders that may have a detrimental effect on your ability to conduct the role effectively; each case will be considered carefully as part of the medical process.

When undergoing an eye test, new recruits must have at least 6/12 vision in their right or left eye, or at least 6/6 vision in both eyes. Those who wear glasses, spectacles or contact lenses must have at least 6/36 vision in both eyes without wearing their glasses, spectacles or contact lenses.

 

Vetting and references

You will complete forms relating to security vetting information and clearance and checks will be completed by our Vetting Department. Our Vetting Unit must carry out background checks using information you provided on your application against you and your family using Police systems. These will include any convictions/cautions and financial vetting.

References are required to cover a minimum of 5 years of continuous employment history. If you have not been in employment for 5 years we will look to obtain education and personal references.

 

Drugs test and biometric vetting

You will also be asked to undertake a drugs test and provide information about any medication you may be taking. Legislation has been introduced that requires applicants to undergo biometric vetting.

If you should fail the drugs test you will not be offered a position with South Wales Police. Any internal candidates who fail a drugs test will have their offer withdrawn and the results from the drugs test may be used in accordance with the South Wales Police Staff Discipline Police and Police Staff Code of Conduct.

On the day we will be asking you to sign a consent form to take your fingerprints and a sample of your DNA for the purposes of a speculative search and for your fingerprints and DNA profile to be retained on the Police Elimination Database (PEDb).

The purpose of obtaining fingerprints and DNA samples is to allow for a speculative search to be made against the local and national databases prior to your appointment to the police force. This is to ensure that you have not previously come to adverse police attention, which you have not informed us of, and also that you are not linked to any outstanding crime scenes.