Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA)

Work as a full time police officer and gain a recognised degree

As a Police Constable Degree Apprentice, you’ll be working as a full time police officer, whilst learning crucial skills and practices to become a fully qualified Police Officer. You'll also gain a paid-for, degree level qualification in Professional Policing Practice from Staffordshire University.

As an apprentice police officer your learning with take place over 3-years and will include classroom based learning, coupled with online digital learning, together with practical experience that you will gain working as a police officer on shifts within the policing teams in either Herefordshire, Shropshire, Telford or Worcestershire

You will join your new colleagues at a local police station to respond to incidents, investigate crime, take part in community engagement and help problem solve some of the biggest challenges our communities face.

We will support you throughout your learning. You will be provided with a dedicated Tutor Constable, who will be your first point of contact, along with your fellow policing colleagues and your line manager who will guide and advise you during your training.

In the final year of your course, you will have the opportunity to specialise in either Advanced Response, Roads Policing and Communities, to work directly within the communities we serve as a frontline Police Officer or in Advanced Investigations, Intelligence and Information if you are looking to become a Detective

Whichever route you undertake you will have achieved a Level 6 (degree level) qualification in Professional Policing Practice and you can set out on a career path that could see you specialise as a detective, firearms officer, dog handler, work in traffic or be the trusted, familiar face of West Mercia Police in the community.

How to apply

We have set out the application process in the links below, as well as how we can support you through your application. Our Becoming a police officer - recruitment process YouTube playlist contains a selection of videos to offer you advice and guidance on what to expect from the recruitment process when applying to become a police officer. 

If you have any queries, read our FAQs or contact the Police Recruitment Team on BOC.Officer.Recruitment@westmercia.police.uk

To begin your PCDA student officer application, please click below