Avon and Somerset Police jobs
Change the story
Do you think differently? Do you want a meaningful career that improves the lives of those around you, a career where no two days are the same?
If so, you may be eligible to join a Police Now award winning two-year national graduate programme. This is a unique opportunity to join the police through one of our Times Top 100 graduate employment schemes, which offer support, mentorship, and personal career development opportunities throughout the two-year programme.
Society needs police officers as diverse as the communities they serve across the Avon and Somerset region, to improve the lives of those around them. We need people like you to bring the diversity of your experiences to make a positive and lasting difference in Avon and Somerset to communities challenged by crime.
Police detective jobs in Avon and Somerset
Question everything, become a detective.
Society is changing. People demand better, for our communities, and from our police service.
You want change: a real way to tackle the problems destroying people’s lives.
You question everything, never accepting things the way they are. Despite barriers, you’re willing to do what it takes to change the world around you.
By becoming a police detective, you can make this happen.
Avon and Somerset Police careers
Avon and Somerset Police as we know it today formed in 1974 from the merger of the former Somerset and Bath Constabulary with the Bristol police force and the Staple Hill division of Gloucestershire Constabulary.
Avon and Somerset Police has a growing and diversifying population, and serves 1,855 square miles – a mix of urban and rural landscapes including moorland, farmland, coastline, holiday resorts, market towns and cities including Bristol, one of England’s eight core cities.
Glastonbury Festival, Europe’s largest music festival and Badminton Horse Trials are two of the Constabulary’s most notable policing events.
A diverse, multi-cultural population swelled by a large student population and tourists, brings challenges in policing, with pockets of substantial wealth contrasting deprived localities and communities.
Ensuring equality of access to policing for all and achieving a diverse and representative workforce are priorities for the Avon and Somerset Police.
Through our partnership with Avon and Somerset Police and neighbouring forces in the South West region, we have recruited, trained and developed 62 graduates to become police officers and detectives on our national graduate programmes since 2017.
- Chief Constable: Andy Marsh QPM
- Headquarters: Valley Road, Portishead, Bristol
- Areas include: Bath, Bristol, Taunton, Yeovil, Exmoor
Why join Avon and Somerset Police with Police Now?
By joining Avon and Somerset Police through Police Now’s national graduate programmes, you’ll benefit from our unique range of support and development features specially designed to develop your career and your impact in policing.
You’ll get a whole host of Police Now benefits unique to our national graduate programmes.
- A Performance Development Coach who’ll work with you over the two year programme on your personal and professional development.
- A Police Now national peer network to learn from and share experiences with.
- Advice from experienced officers through the Police Now alumni network.
- Our specially designed Police Now Academy to give you a unique and intensive preparation for life in-force.
- Our specially developed affinity networks, places to meet and share experiences, insights and support with likeminded people.
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I've got no interest really in leaving the police now. It's definitely career that I want to stay with for the rest of my working life. The opportunities that get presented within the police are so vast you probably don't even know all the opportunities that exist.
I've been really fulfilled and rewarded by being given the opportunity to not just join the police, but going through the Police Now route that I have gone through, just because you get exposed to so many different parts of the organisation really early on, and that allows you to understand the roles, and that gives you an awareness of all the necessary skills, and that allows you to become a good detective from day one.
Avon and Somerset Police graduate scheme
We are looking for graduates to join Avon and Somerset Police through our national graduate programmes.
National Graduate Leadership Programme
National Detective Programme
Avon and Somerset Police recruitment
Our focus on diversity and inclusion
Avon and Somerset Police are working hard to increase inclusion & diversity within the Constabulary where their communities are currently under-represented, including those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, people of all ages, abilities, faiths, religions, gender, LGBT communities and those from other disadvantaged or marginalised backgrounds.
Avon & Somerset Police needs people who share the force values and wish to make a difference to communities in the South West region.
Tary Kufa | Trainee Detective Constable
Country feels with city crimes
Having completed an English degree at the University of Birmingham and fresh from travelling around the world, Detective Constable Elisabeth Dane wanted a career that would challenge her and decided to join the Police Now National Detective Programme.
‘It might be a cliché but I enjoy the countryside and the lifestyle, plus being near the coast works for me for the things I like doing in my spare time’
Read the full article to find out what advice Elisabeth would give to those considering the two-year programme, and what it’s like being a police detective in Bristol’s Bridgewater ward.
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We want to encourage people of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and beliefs, who share our values of caring, courageous, learning, and inclusive who want to make a difference in our communities and work for us.
We have a dedicated Representative Workforce Team and also a network of Diversity Champions who can provide support to people from underrepresented groups who are considering joining the police.
Avon and Somerset Police
Are you eligible to apply?
Before you apply, make sure you meet our eligibility criteria with our online guide.
Our criteria for entry to the programme follow national standards for new police officers. Take a look at the full details to make sure you are eligible before applying to Avon and Somerset Police.
- Age - You must be over 17 years old at the time of your application.
- Residency - You must reside within the force boundaries by academy start date (March 2023).
- Nationality - You can be of any nationality to apply, providing you have the status of indefinite leave to remain and work in the UK.
- Academic qualifications - You must hold at least one UK Level 3 Qualification in any subject, or an overseas equivalent. You must also have, or be predicted to achieve, a minimum 2:1 undergraduate degree from a university in the UK, or an equivalent from a non-UK university.
- Driving licence - You must hold a full UK manual driving licence by conditional offer (September 2022).
How you apply
You want a career where you can make an impact. Are you prepared to start the application process?
Being prepared is the first step in being successful in your application. Before you apply, make sure to thoroughly read this information and have everything you need to start your journey.
Find out how you apply for Avon and Somerset Police and all the steps you’ll go through in becoming a police officer with Police Now.
