About our secondment scheme

Claire Van Deurs Goss, Greater Manchester Police

The secondee network has been a labour of absolute love and enjoyment where we’re so lucky and privileged to have such an amazing talent pool of people all in the one room from across the country who have that solid core purpose. What it means to us is that we’ve now got this community and we can only build on that moving forward. 

Graham McCallum, Police Scotland

Today is about those individuals who all come from separate forces are all meeting together, meeting each other for the first time as well to realise that they are united, not because they’re in the College of Policing, but they’re also secondees as well. So it’s a unique opportunity for them to meet face to face, to share learning, to share the realities they have because they’re all going through the same journey, and they no longer feel alone any more. They’re actually part of a greater network in a bigger team.  

Nita Pankhania, Thames Valley Police

I think we’ve got around 70 secondees I understand from the conversations this morning and it’s really important to link in with them because we’re all sort of dispersed across UK. So having this network today has really helped to put some names to faces and just talk about what we’re doing in our own teams and share some of that knowledge as well. 

Claire Van Deurs Goss

So the community of secondees that we’ve got at the College is such an eclectic group and so diverse, which is absolutely fantastic to be submerged in such an amazing group of people. And of course we’re not just police officers, we’re police staff, we’re from the military as well. And we’ve got a huge amount of secondees from Oscar Kilo. The demographic is across the country. So there’s no skills I don't think that we haven’t got or that we can’t nurture and really build on.  

Jacqui Prest, Greater Manchester Police

They do so much at the College to make you feel, very quickly, part of the family. All they want to do is for you to really improve who you are, but it’s also the opportunity to work around the different forces when you are a secondee. Where actually you get to see that there’s a lot of commonality that you thought perhaps was individual with your force. But actually, it’s not.  

Elaine Clarke-Williams, Greater Manchester Police

Because I’m not a police officer, I’m police staff. So I don’t have policing skills. I’ve got skills that can complement policing skills, which I think policing really, really needs. It’s really difficult to be seen as having the credibility, bringing things into policing if you’re not an officer. So I think working at the College will give me that credibility and that visibility to bring things back and make a change and a difference. 

Jacqui Prest

It’s like the bridge between a police force and the College and we link the two together because there is so many aspects within College that actually forces don’t tap into. I can say there’s a professional community I can signpost you to, then that’s beneficial for that force. And then that’s a long-lasting legacy, really.  

Graham McCallum

It’s a career high to come to the College of Policing but the opportunities you have when you’re here and outside of the police service as well. The networking opportunities, the CPD opportunities is second to none. So people don’t always realise that. It’s when you’re here you get to it, it’s probably an unkept secret that people are not aware of the full opportunities you have. And once you’re here, it's really going to be beneficial to see what you have. 

Lisa Gore, South Wales Police

I thought I knew about what the College did. But, in reality, I only scratched the surface. One of the things that I try to do is, when I’m having interactions with the forces, is try and raise awareness about everything the College has to offer. I just didn’t realise about how small the College is in size but how huge the offer is that the College brings. And what I will say is it’s probably the most inclusive place that I’ve ever worked and I feel the most valued that I ever have while working in the College.