SOUTH WALES POLICE Employee Reviews for Correctional Officer

You will be based at 1 of the 4 custody suites, each has its own pro's and cons. Will be required to cover where needed. Staffing levels is a big issue, especially with sickness....stress.Need to be able to deal with detainees who can be very challenging. Mixed bag of compliant detainees and uncooperative ones. It can be very stressful, constant flow of detainees, banging cell doors, constant abuse and having to process (fingerprint, photo) them. There are days where you get plenty of downtime so enjoy those moments, you deserve it!Pay is good now they finally realised the work custody carry out. Shift work 4 on 4 off, there are staff with flexible working in place to suit there needs. Colleagues are good, can't fault them. Just senior management can push you to much. If something goes wrong, even if it's out of your hands, you're made to feel guilty.No career development, no progression as a cdo and will be so lucky if you're able to go on a course.It's not for everyone, it's a secure job. After a couple months you will get into the flow of things and have support from colleagues.

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Stressful but rewarding

Custody Detention Officer (Current Employee) - Cardiff, Cardiff - 5 January 2020

A stressful environment to work in, however the support provided by other colleagues and management is really good. A unique and rewarding role.......

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Challenging job in a challenging environment

Civilian Detention Officer (Current Employee) - Cardiff, WLS - 20 January 2016

Dealing with non-compliant prisoners on a daily basis. Although job is demanding it is also rewarding. The hardest part of the job is coming to terms with the fact that we are severely underpaid for the job that we do. I have learned that there are many aspects to peoples personalities and that one should not judge a book by its cover. co-workers are fantastic and working relationships are brilliant despite receiving little ot no support from upper management.