Trainee police officer Aneesah Mahmood
From a young age I always wanted to be a police officer and give back to my community. I grew up in a high crime area and I understood the emotional distress that people experience when they are surrounded by crime.
I chose the DHEP pathway because I already had a degree in criminology, and I wanted to increase my knowledge around criminology and adapt it into policing by getting a diploma.
The DHEP pathway has helped me adapt my university-style learning to self-studying and doing that alongside my police training has challenged me in a positive way. Having university assignments to complete as well as policing assignments has aided me with a greater insight into police work when it comes to workload, as you will be dealing with multiple crimes at once.
The challenge with DHEP is trying to complete essays at a university standard at the same time as learning legislation. However, with my criminology degree I have carried over my academic skills and utilised them whilst doing this diploma.
Policing has a clear sense of purpose for me. Becoming a full-time PC has challenged me massively more than when I was a Special constable. Being a PC is a full-time paid role and I made the decision to stick with my dream and help my community.
I cannot wait to get back out on response and help my community. Training has made me look forward to working with different people from different cultures and communities and providing my support.
My aspiration is to show people in the BAME community that no police force is perfect; however, we get a lot of our policing right. I want to be the voice for my community and show them that things are being done and crimes are being solved.
Their voices are being heard and I provide partial insight to the policing family of how BAME communities are run. My ambition now is to build that rapport with minority communities and then use my skills and knowledge and exceed in specialist roles, first starting with the traffic team.
The tutors have been very helpful, the cohort is great, and we have already been made to feel part of the Cambridgeshire police family, so it was the worth the wait