How to become a police constable: Dylan's story

Dylan:

A police officer is a job in the emergency services. The main reason for the police is to be there for communities, to stop crime, and to bring people to justice. We're here as the police to keep all the members of the public across our region safe. I love helping the community. It's something that I've come into the police to do. I just want to give back to members of the public. That's what I love doing. When I come in, I switch my radio on. That's me on duty. I will be listening out to the radio for any 999 calls, 101 calls, where members of the public will be asking for our assistance. It's a very broad spectrum, really, of what incidents we deal with. No day's the same as they say in the police. You just have to deal with what we come up with really.

During school my goal was to become a paramedic. I applied to go to do the paramedics course. Unfortunately, due to lack of life experience at the age of 18, I was told to return once I'd had a bit more life experience. I was then told the best way to gain that life experience would be to join the special constabulary, which is being a volunteer police officer. So I gave that at a go and I just noticed that studying wasn't for me and that policing was something I really enjoy doing and had a passion for and it's something that I've progressed with and I've now been a police constable for near enough two and a half years.

Dylan's colleague:

My name's Elin and I'm a sergeant for North Wales Police covering response on Anglesey. I'm Dylan's supervisor so I'm his sergeant. Dylan's very enthusiastic, very, very hard working. There's no incident that he won't respond to. He is very good at talking to people. He's got very good communication skills. He is also very nosey so that also helps.

Dylan:

When I joined as a police constable, I expected to just respond to 999 calls, arrest the people and that'd be that basically. But I didn't expect how much paperwork there is involved. People don't see that side of it. I'm one of the youngest members of North Wales Police to be a police constable and age doesn't matter in this job. I've been made to feel part of the team and essentially I can bring my own experiences into the role. Becoming a police constable was a very proud moment for me, my family. Just putting on the uniform is just, you know, you get that sense of achievement, basically, of I have got here now, it's something that brings joy to me. There's different avenues I can go to – the opportunities are just endless.