Graduation ceremony for West Mercia officers

West Mercia Constabulary police officers were the first from their force to graduate from Teesside with a Foundation Degree in Professional Policing.

The 34 officers attended the graduation ceremony at their force headquarters at Hindlip Hall, Worcester, to receive their Foundation Degrees from Chief Constable Paul West, alongside Professor Cliff Allan, the University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development).

They are the first officers at West Mercia Constabulary in the Midlands to receive the degree, which was introduced as part of the new Initial Police Learning and Development Programme back in 2006.

Working in partnership As a result of the changes made nationally to police officer training, West Mercia Constabulary began working in partnership with us to design and deliver a training programme that enables new officers to gain specific skills and knowledge in a classroom environment, before putting these professional skills into practice in police stations and out on patrol.

The programme takes two years to complete and equips student officers with the general and specific skills they need to be effective operational police officers. The student officers work with specialists from various police departments as they progress through the course, as well as with lecturers from the University, and community groups and organisations.

First officers graduating Cliff Allan, Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Teesside, said: ‘We are delighted to have worked with West Mercia Constabulary during the development and subsequent roll out of this programme.

‘The staff at West Mercia Constabulary and at the University have been fully committed to the programme and it is wonderful to see the first group of officers graduating.’

The University has offered a Foundation Degree in Police Studies in partnership with Cleveland Police since 2004.

---