3. Our DC entry programme

Our Detective Constable Entry Programme (DCEP) incorporates a ‘uniform first’ approach where you will spend time working in a front-line uniformed police constable role, before starting your detective learning. We believe having front-line experience will provide our future detectives with greater exposure to the skills, knowledge and experience needed to become a more rounded officer and more effective investigator, while providing you with the necessary contextual knowledge of policing London.

You will also learn how the Met works together to keep people living and visiting London safe. The whole learning programme from starting at training school to being confirmed as a substantive detective is four years.  Your detective learning will be with the Met's crime academy and follow a modular course with other trainee detective constables. Your programme follows the national policing curriculum (PEQF) and the professionalising investigations programme (PIP) .  Years 1 and 2 cover the foundations of policing and becoming an efficient and well-conducted constable. The remaining years 3 and 4 will focus on developing your skills further, knowledge and experience in investigating serious and complex crimes.

Eligibility criteria

You must meet the eligibility criteria to be a detective constable set out in who we are looking for. You will also need, or be working towards: 

·       A recognised UK degree (level 6) qualification or, 

·       An equivalent overseas degree supported by an ENIC statement of comparability (to confirm the UK level 6 equivalent of your overseas qualification) and a functional English language level 2 qualification. 

You’ll need to provide evidence of your qualifications to the Met before we will make you a formal job offer. 

Training and assessment

This is a four-year programme in which you’ll learn at one of our own Met training centres, and "on the job” working initially within a designated basic command unit (BCU) and spend time working with experienced uniformed officers to learn front-line policing.  

Upon successful completion of your probation (2 years) you will take part in a detective blended learning programme including “on the job” learning with specialist training modules and in person masterclasses with experienced detectives.  

Our training centres are at: 

·       Colindale in North London

·       Sidcup in South London

After a three-day introduction to the Met, you start 17 weeks classroom learning. The training follows a shift pattern on alternate weeks: 

·       Early: 7am to 3pm 

·       Late: 2pm to 10pm 

Candidates must be able to meet the essential requirements of the training programme and role. 

This role includes a number of core operational duties intrinsic to the role and required to ensure effective operational delivery. These include those listed below but is not limited too.

• Conducting complex investigations,
• investigative interviews with suspects/ witnesses/ victims
• crime scene management
• managing PIP2 investigations from initial report to final conclusion. 

The Met is committed to making reasonable adjustments in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 and individual circumstances and reasonable adjustments will be considered on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the Act. 

After training, you’ll be posted to a basic command unit (BCU) and spend time working with experienced uniformed officers to learn front-line policing. This is called ‘street duties’ .

You will spend the remainder of your first year as part of a front-line team as a uniformed constable. The programme mirrors the police constable entry pathway (PCEP) to build solid understanding of community engagement, core policing duties and real-life operational experience.

During your second year, you will transition into developing your investigative skills, which includes everything from interviewing victims, witnesses, and suspects, gathering evidence to build case files and managing cases through the criminal justice system, managing risk to victims and witnesses and submitting cases for charging reviews. You will also be required to sit the national investigators’ exam (NIE) – a key step toward becoming a detective. Upon successful completion of your second year, you will be signed off as substantive police constable and embark on your detective journey.

The remainder of your programme will be spent developing your policing expertise in areas such as public protection, community safety and high-risk missing person investigations. You will participate in a blended learning programme including “on the job” learning with specialist training modules and in person masterclasses with experienced detectives. This includes being supported by experienced detectives, subject matter experts and a dedicated detective development team (investigative coaches and assessors). 

Upon successful completion of your programme, you become an accredited detective constable, ready for a long-term investigative career in the Met.

More on becoming a detective constable