Overcoming the odds

Speaker 1 (00:02):

Hello, and thank you for joining us for another episode of Cam's cops, our stories today, we speak to one of our offices, Megan, about her extraordinary story at birth, she weighed less than four pounds had suffered a birth bowel and only survived. Thanks to emergency surgery at Adam Brooks hospital, she had also been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a condition that causes damage to the lungs digestive system and other organs and shortens life expectancy, despite this and her own concerns. Megan who's 22 recently achieved her ambition of becoming a police officer. We spoke to her about how she has overcome all life's hurdles. We also talked to our own HR expert, Phillip moody, who explains what it takes to be a police officer.

Speaker 2 (00:45):

So when I was first born, I was rushed from hinging book to Brooks for the emergency surgery, but I very nearly died. I was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at birth, and my mom had to have me out early with an emergency Cesar because basically my bowel had burst from Meum, which a lot of people with CF as babies suffer with and I had emergency surgery and then they basically removed pretty much half of my bowel. And I had two surgeries in the first sort of two weeks of being born. And then up until about five years, I was sort of, okay. I had a couple of chest infections, but then I started to get sort of really bad pain. And a of times where I was an inpatient from age of about 10 years.

Speaker 3 (01:41):

Can you explain cystic fibrosis is

Speaker 2 (01:43):

So cystic fibrosis is a genetic condition, which you inherit from your parents. And it basically CRE creates an imbalance of salt and water in all the cells of your body. So it makes the mucus that everyone has in their lungs and stomach and things just makes it thicker and less hard to break down. Um, it can affect your lungs. So it makes you more susceptible to catching chest infections and it affects your digestive systems.

Speaker 3 (02:11):

How did it affect your younger life?

Speaker 2 (02:13):

So in primary school, I missed a lot of school. I never really had a hundred percent attendance and I think I found it difficult because I, because of missing school, I didn't make friends as well up until I got like sort of or nine. Um, and also I have twin brother. He was always well, so I found it difficult seeing things that like, then I sort of wasn't able to do,

Speaker 3 (02:41):

Do you know it in the,

Speaker 2 (02:44):

In the air at the moment because the future of CF is changing. Um, they're constantly developing new medications. Like I've just started one called C trio, which I started a year ago and they're bringing out another sort of medication in the works from the same company that made Caprio. Um, and there's even talks of like genetic therapy and things like that. So at the moment, I don't know what it'll be like. I'm hoping that with the new medications, people with CFO will live a lot longer. Most of us are being told to sort of plan for retirement now, whereas before it was sort of like, they probably wouldn't last, like more than middle-aged

Speaker 3 (03:25):

You faced challenges. Tell us about those and how you overcame them.

Speaker 2 (03:29):

I think overcoming challenges was mostly just being sort of positive. And my family were always really supportive, which helped. And I felt like my mom and dad, they gave me a lot of attention when I was unwell. So I think that helped. And then I guess when I became more well and I wasn't in hospital as much, I sort of developed my confidence and I was able to participate in things like sort of normal children would do.

Speaker 3 (04:00):

How are things for you now?

Speaker 2 (04:02):

Yeah, so now I'm, I would say I'm quite well. Um, I try to go to the gym and keep fit and I do weight trading and cardio try and keep my lungs healthy. And I'm trying to keep on top of my medications, cuz sometimes compliance with taking medication is quite difficult, especially if you're not noticing the benefits of it straight away. So with CF, I never used to think about it as a child. I think because once I became more, well, I didn't really need to worry about it, but now I'm becoming older. I'm more aware that I need to be conscious about keeping healthy and I need to be conscious about taking my medication so that I don't get unwell in the future. And also I have friends with cystic fibrosis who I've met online, cause we're not allowed to meet in person and they're more unwell than me. So they're having like hospital stays and IV antibiotics, which is, keeps me sort of aware that that could be me in the future. And that I need to like be careful with what I'm doing.

Speaker 3 (05:08):

Did you always want to be a police officer?

Speaker 2 (05:11):

So I didn't always want to be a police officer. I had lots of different career ideas as a child, I think as most children do. But I started to think about doing it when I was about 16. I thought that I wanted to help people. I became interested in watching crime, documentaries and series on TV. And that's when I started to really think that that could be a career that I wanted to pursue. When I was older.

Speaker 3 (05:39):

Did you have concerns then about whether you were right for policing?

Speaker 2 (05:43):

When I first thought about it, I didn't think that my CF would stop me from applying, but I hadn't really done much research into it. And then when I started to research sort of the medical, I saw that things like diabetes and CF would usually be a no, but that they would be assessed individually. And then I applied to be a detention officer in custody and I got through that and the fitness test was the same. I had a medical for it as well. So then I thought I wouldn't have any problems when I come to apply for the police. Cause it would be hard for them to say, but then because of the pandemic, I started to get concerns that, that they wouldn't employ me because I was shielding and things like that. And yeah, I guess I was worried about it.

Speaker 3 (06:32):

Was it just the cystic fibrosis you had concerns about,

Speaker 2 (06:35):

I wasn't worried about completing the fitness test cuz I knew I could do that before, but I think I was worried about my size. I didn't think it would stop me getting in, but I thought it may stop me in sort of the training period when we had to do personal safety training and we had to pass certain assessments there. I thought that maybe my size would be a barrier for me, but it wasn't. Yeah. So I'm only five foot one and I'm very petite and small. So I was concerned mostly about completing the personal safety training assessments in training. I wasn't too concerned about the pre-training things like the fitness tests because I knew I could do that, but it was more the assessments where we have to take people down and things in training that I was worried about, but it turned out I was perfectly capable.

Speaker 3 (07:27):

How was the recruitment process for you?

Speaker 2 (07:29):

So the recruitment process for me was half straightforward and half difficult. I applied in January, 2020 and I passed the, um, paper shift and then I had my assessment centre in March, 2020 just before lockdown that was in person. And I found that quite difficult. I thought I had failed it, but then I had, I hadn't and I passed it. I then had my interview in April on teams online and that went really well. It felt quite relaxed, more like a conversation rather than a sort of grilling and more than an interview. And then I had to do the pre-employment checks, which was things like the medical, the vetting and things like that. The medical was a bit of a problem because I was shielding. And one of the doctors I spoke to said that because I was shielding, I wasn't fit enough to be a police officer. He said this to me over the phone and said, I would need a proper in person medical, which kind of made me think they would maybe fail me because he'd said that. But I also thought shielding is not something that means I'm not fit enough. I can't help. That was a pandemic. I mean I knew a police officers that were also shielding, but then I had my medical and I passed that. So then I was able to start started in April.

Speaker 3 (08:52):

How did that feel?

Speaker 2 (08:53):

It felt good to start. I felt like I'd sort of got over all the barriers that I thought I was gonna face. And also because at some points during the recruitment process, I thought that I would just be completed and couldn't so I felt good to felt really good.

Speaker 3 (09:12):

Tell us more about the assessment

Speaker 2 (09:14):

Centre was scary because I felt like I was preparing for it for ages. I had a meeting with the positive action lead for Cambridge who sort of, she does meetings with people from backgrounds that they need more of in the police. So that I'll be like women or ethnic minorities or things like that. And she sort of helped my confidence grow. Cause she said, I'd done so much more preparation than anyone she'd ever met and she didn't have any concerns. But then when I actually went there in person, it just felt weird that they have sort of like a script that so it's not really natural, but they tell you to be acting natural, which I found was just really difficult. But yeah, I passed it so I must have done. OK.

Speaker 3 (10:06):

How did that feel?

Speaker 2 (10:07):

It felt really good. My friend actually was at the same assessment centre as me and we got split up during the assessment centre in different groups, but we found each other afterwards and we both said we've definitely failed. Um, but when we both found out we passed, we were just like really happy and excited to go to the next stage and to get interviewed.

Speaker 3 (10:26):

How has being a police officer been so far?

Speaker 2 (10:29):

So the role of policing has been really good since I passed out. I've really enjoyed being on the frontline and responding to jobs. I've had a few memorable incidents so far. I was first on scene to stabbing, which happened just outside the police station. And that was it's sort of your adrenaline takes over and you sort of just know what to do when you get there. I've also had another couple of missing person incidents, which I will remember. I had one of someone who was suicidal and so they were automatically a high risk missing person and we managed to find them and they weren't in a good way. They, their mental health was poor. So we managed to get to the hospital, get the help needed. And that felt really good to feel like you'd actually helped somebody

Speaker 3 (11:15):

Looking back were your concerns justified.

Speaker 2 (11:19):

So yeah, it's not that you need to be big and strong and male to do the job because there's so many aspects of the role that you don't need. Even, you don't even need two police officers to go like dealing with missing people and things like that. And I think that sometimes when people see the uniform, they sort of listen to you rather than kicking off with you. Sometimes people do just kick off with police officers because they see you in a uniform and then that's when it can be a little bit more challenging, but your colleagues will always be like around the corner to come and help if you really need them. And I also find that sometimes people do just listen to someone that speaks clearly to them. Like you don't need to be going in heavy handed at all, really with anyone. What

Speaker 3 (12:08):

Would you say to others concerned about applying?

Speaker 2 (12:10):

If someone was having concerns about applying, I would advise them to go to some of the seminars they do online about recruitment and maybe ask some of their questions there. But also I would say just give it a go because you never know how it might end up. You might end up doing the best thing that you've ever done. And as well, if you didn't pass all of the stages of recruitment, you can always retake them. And it's not something that is gonna be a black mark against their name. So it would give them a good, a good sort of opportunity, I think as well to apply for an op insight because I think that's running again after COVID and that would mean they could come out with a police officer. They could see the types of things that we're doing day in, day out, and they would get a really good idea of what the job's gonna be like. They would meet other people on shift who may also look like them or, um, be the same sort of size as them and or who have disabilities. And they'd be also be able to get advice from other police officers.

Speaker 3 (13:14):

Do you ever pinch yourself now? You're an officer.

Speaker 2 (13:17):

Sometimes I do pinch myself when I'm, when I'm going out to something that sounds really grief or that sounds like a bit dangerous, I think to myself, like, why am I doing this? Like put yourself at risk, but then your adrenaline starts pumping and kind of forget that your sort of a normal person just doing the job.

Speaker 3 (13:39):

Thanks Megan. Now we turn to Phillipa moody from our HR department. So

Speaker 4 (13:44):

We've heard from Megan about the concern she had about her size and medical condition. Yeah. What are the criteria for becoming a police

Speaker 5 (13:51):

Officer? Okay. So really we are looking at people can apply from age 17 and there's no, no upper age limit. If you apply when you're 17, you must be 18. When you start on one of our intakes, what I would say as well is that, you know, we've got our new degree entry roots. If you have got a degree or you haven't got a degree, we've got those roots available, but there are academic requirements that you will need. All of those are on our website. So please go and have a look on the Cambridge website. We'll give you all that information. What I would say is if you don't have the academic requirements that they're asking for, please don't worry about that. There are other ways and means that you can meet those and be able to apply. So, so don't be put off for that reason, adding onto that, um, you know, you will have to have the right to work as well in the UK.

Speaker 5 (14:39):

So to ensure that you meet those requirements, we quite often get a lot of people talking about, you know, you need, do you need to be big? Do you need to be strong to, to join the police? It's one of those myths that, that people assume that police officers need to be strong. They're often in a lot of altercations, actually most of our police officers will tell you that that communication skills are much better than needing to be big and strong. You know? Yes there, you know, there will be some occasions police officers may, uh, need to be more physical, but it's actually quite rare. It's rare than people think, but it's lots of misconceptions when people are looking to join the police, probably some of the most common ones are. And we've alluded to that one before about being big and strong. No, you don't need to be big and strong.

Speaker 5 (15:25):

And we've got a lot of people that come to us who say, you know, am I too short years ago, people had to be a certain height to join the police service. They don't now height is not a barrier. Another thing another common, um, thing is, you know, am I too old to join? You can join the police service at any time. Again, people think it's it's for young people. Yes, we do have young people join us. We have people in their forties join us. We've had people in their fifties join us. So age isn't a barrier. Another one is, you know, do I have to be really fit? Do I have to be an athlete to join the police? No, you don't. You have to do a bleep test. Most of most people now probably have done that. A bleep test, perhaps at school it's level 5.4 is about three and a half minutes of, of, of jogging. And it gets a little bit quicker, but most people with, with, with an average level of fitness, it's no problem at all.

Speaker 4 (16:22):

What would you say to people interested in the role, but with concerns about whether they're suitable?

Speaker 5 (16:27):

We have a lot of people who, you know, they think police officer, you know, I've got to go through an assessment centre, you know, how am I gonna do that? How am I gonna be able to, to, to get through the process, please come and talk to us, come on our, our cams website. We can help you. We can support you. We have lots of application workshops and workshops that will support you when you're going through the process. So we've got a, a real good team on hand here to help you through that. So, so please don't worry. Come and talk to us. I think the main thing to just to, to reiterate is that if you are interested, we've got a lot of events that we run through the year. We'll be doing some new discovery events in, in January where you can come and, and talk to us, talk to some officer, know what the process is. So, you know, keep an eye on the website. We do a lot of events as well. So, you know, if you're interested, E even some people have often come to us and said, I've always thought about being a police officer. It's always been at the back of my mind, but for whatever reason, I've never done it, please come and do it. Come, come and talk to us and, and, and see about the opportunities that we've got in policing.

Speaker 1 (17:35):

And that's all for this episode of Cam's Corps, our stories, we hope you found it. Interesting. Maybe some of you will follow Megan's footsteps and become a police officer for more information, visit our website and click apply or register. Remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel. So you don't miss the next instalment. And thank you for listening.