Great if you work at a mainline station or near an headquarters.If you get a posting out with these areas there is not much scope for advancement.Shifts can be long and hard on family life.

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Not what you think

Police Officer (Current Employee) - Bristol - 24 July 2022

BTP are unofficially the private Police force for the railway. We seem to treat the staff on the railway network with special rights. If you ever get the BTP attend to an incident the staff are always right and you are wrong. There are so many bosses that they have to double up on shifts. When there isn't enough PCs. It’s the best way into policing but will burn you out very quickly.

Pros

None

Cons

Long hours, no support, you can’t do right from wrong both from the force and the general public.

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Insights into British Transport Police

Based on 23 survey responses

Areas for improvement

Trust in colleagues
Support from manager
Energising work tasks

Challenging at times, good team work

British Transport Police (Current Employee) - London - 28 June 2022

High standards from the go, policing can be very challenging at times, No day is the same, In policing anything can happenYou learn something new every day in the job. Like every work place there are issues however if it effects you directly you need to speak up.

Pros

Free travel, Blue light card, and good progression

Cons

It's not for everyone

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Last resort

Police Officer (Current Employee) - East Anglia - 14 April 2022

If you can't get into a homeoffice force then the BTP is the best route into policing.There is a running joke that we are not real police.The job is different from station to station, London you may do more proactive stop searches for drugs or weapons, or if you live rural you'll be investigating scrap metal theft.One thing is certain, you'll be responding to petty fare evasion one minute and picking up body parts the next.Home office get to jobs quicker and make the arrest then often leave you to do the investigation and case files for court.

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Good

Police Constable (Current Employee) - Scotland - 7 April 2022

BTP is a fairly decent place to work. Main issues with it nowadays are all the tasking apps you are asked to fill out by management as if you don’t have enough to do.

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Disappointing.

Detective Constable (Former Employee) - Manchester - 23 March 2022

Transferred to BTP from HO force (as a DC) and have to say it is a well intentioned but amateur outfit always playing catch up. Lots of standing around in uniform like security guards where the real enemy is boredom.Moved to CID where there was little demand for experienced officers to use their considerable skills, or new detectives to be trained.Very few training opportunities despite nunerous requests.The only benefit is there is less demand, thereby enabling you to allocate more attention and time on your investigations and to request necessary support from other departments where in HO forces this would be denied due to costs and demand.The troops are really keen and love getting their teeth stuck into jobs, but sadly there are too few jobs to keep them interested.I saw many many officers resign or transfer out.As for me, I became de-skilled, frustrated and ultimately disinterested. In the 7 years I was with BTP I can only think of 1 job which stretched me. And when it got to court? Well you can guess the rest. The final entry in the Kenneth Williams diaries reads, "Oh what's the bloody point".A sad way to retire from a job i was once good at and enjoyed.

Pros

Great people and less stressful demand than Home Office forces.

Cons

Poor training and very few opportunities to progress and develop.

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Rewarding role but poor management

Inspector (Former Employee) - London, Greater London - 11 March 2022

Worked for the BTP for 16 years.The force is well respected in policing circles with some excellent officers and first line Sergeants.However corruption in promotion, especially temp roles causes damage to moral.Far too many people given opportunities beyond their capabilities, just because they are "in" with particular senior officers. This practice is destroying moral and resulting in many very talented officers moving to other police forces or just leaving policing.Senior management out of touch with modern management.Real shame as this used to be probably the best police force to work for, but no more.

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Great force poor leadership

Police Constable (Former Employee) - London - 21 February 2022

Served for 14 years , poor leadership and lack of resources led me to leave.Management aren’t in touch with the officers in the street. Shift changes at unacceptable short notice, days off cancelled without notice due to poor event planning.

Pros

None

Cons

Long hours, cancelled rest days

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Good people let down by management, poor IT and understaffing

Police Officer (Former Employee) - South East - 13 February 2022

Having worked in Policing before a few years ago, I thought that the job may have changed for the better. How wrong was I.Still understaffed, still surrounded by awful management trying to make a name for themselves, still expected to do an important job with both hands tied behind your back, still expected to use awful IT and fill in reams of forms to perform a simple task, still waiting forever in custody suites to process simple arrests. Extremely poor training for new and rejoiners. All in all a desperately depressing place to work.

Pros

Not many

Cons

Quite a few

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Not what I expected.

Police Constable (Former Employee) - London, Greater London - 10 February 2022

Apply for a home office force if you want to be a real police officer.Disappointing management that does not support officers. They are only interested in progressing their own careers.Constant shift changes to cover events.

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Jobs at British Transport Police

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30+ days ago

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23 days ago

If you want to be a police officer, join the home office. AVOID

Police Constable (Former Employee) - London, Greater London - 29 January 2022

toxic work culture poor management unfriendly colleagues there is a expectation to dedicated your entire life to the BTP ethos, short shift changes with very little consideration given to personal life.

Pros

none

Cons

long hours toxic culture no work life balance unsupportive and unfriendly colleagues

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Exciting and enjoyable

CSO (Former Employee) - London - 26 October 2021

Working as part of BTP, I often found myself picking up work that other officers tend to ignore. There would be regular incidents that came up over the radio, but if it wasn’t an exciting one, nobody would answer for it apart from the same few officers who actually did the job to help people, rather than a ego fulfilment.

Pros

Free travel

Cons

Senior officers arrogance

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Be warned

Police Constable (Current Employee) - London/Kent/Bournemouth - 24 October 2021

Terrible place to work, almost 3 years of service for reference. I have heard other areas can be okay, but for me the environment is a complete "boys club". You will feel like an outsider, will be bullied and constantly critised on everything you do....don't expect to fix any issues though, if you should pander to one person's wishes you will most certainly end up on someone else's hit list. Things will probably stay that way, there is an expectation that you should know everything as soon as you leave training school but you learn barely anything practical to take out into the real world. Don't expect much help once you leave training either, if you aren't up to scratch then someone will be looking to stab you in the back.....dealing with criminals isn't hard, finding someone who will watch your back is.

Pros

Decent pay and progression

Cons

Long hours, unprofessional environment

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Rail Secuirty Guard with Police powers

Police Officer (Former Employee) - Liverpool, Merseyside - 12 May 2021

Do not join this force, you will spend 90% of your time stood like a traffic cone at railway stations. HVP- High visibility Patrol is all you'll do, any incidents that happen, you'll call in the police force from the local area because your not trusted to deal with it yourself. You'll feel like a security guard in Police uniform. Some people like standing around feeling important, I'd rather be dealing with incidents and helping the public. Hence why I left and join a real police force. If your a train spotter then maybe you'll enjoy it, if not join your local force not BTP. You'll thank me later. Plus the management in BTP are awful, want you to drop your life for overtime shifts beacuse the footballs on.

Pros

Get paid on time

Cons

Glorified security guard, management team, shift pattern

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An excellent work area

Police Officer (Former Employee) - Hull and Immingham - 31 March 2021

I enjoyed everyday working as a police officer at British Transport Police. The people I worked with were a great crowd and we were looked after by out bosses.

Pros

Free train travel

Cons

Shift system

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BTP (Big top productions)

Police Officer (Former Employee) - North West - 3 December 2020

The force is corrupt from top to bottom, no support what so ever, basically a glorified security guard for the railway. If you’re not bothered about family and friends join this circus if you want to see your family then don’t, the hours are shocking. What ever you do don’t get a complaint as they will do there best to throw the book at you for there own career progression. Stay clear, the chief constable over the last few years has destroyed the circus.

Pros

Free train travel

Cons

Corruption

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Great variety

Police Officer (Former Employee) - Wigan - 5 November 2020

Enjoyed the different aspects of Policing the railway. No different to Home Office Policing as I previously did. Down side cancelled rest days at very short notice. Sometimes felt that they were going through the motions regarding welfare and support.I miss the banter with colleagues

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Best work placement ever

Volunteer (Former Employee) - Southampton - 10 October 2020

Loved working for the Transport Police and always seeking ways of returning. Staff are all knowledgeable and helpful and have a great respect for employees at all levels

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Awful place to work

Officer (Former Employee) - England - 8 October 2020

Single crewed most of the time which is lonely and soul destroying, back up often can be miles away especially in rural areas which pose a threat to officer safety. continuously relying on home office forces to help you out and back you up at jobs often end up working overtime to complete jobs/ when people are in custody which can end up being at work for 15 hours plus never anyone to relieve/ take over from a job hence the long hours. salary is good but not worth it for the stuff you put up with, be prepared to literally give up your life for BTP and say goodbye to your social life. training school is stressful with continuous exams which just isn’t necessary, training school staff are awful and unapproachable ,accommodation for training school is shocking numerous reports of rats and nothing done about it massive health and safety risk. Took over a year to hire me as there was no vacancies where i live, this was not explained to me during the interview process, HR was very unhelpful with the process which nearly resulted in me pulling my application. Would prefer to work in a home office force where you know people have your back when you need it.

Pros

Okay salary

Cons

Long hours/ no work life balance

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Good Experience

Special Constable - Voluntary (Former Employee) - London - 6 October 2020

Excellent opportunity to give back to the community. Fantastic experience that l gained a lot of experience from, such as communication skills, handling conflicts and the pressure in addition to working as a solid team.

Pros

Free travel when on duty

Cons

Night shifts

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Terrible place.

Police Community Support Officer (Former Employee) - London, Greater London - 11 September 2020

Institutionally racist company for blacks and brown people. If you are white you fit right in like a glove and can get away with abusing your brown colleagues.