The third cohort of detectives trained on Police Now’s National Detective Programme have successfully completed the two-year programme, and celebrated the milestone at a graduation event this week (23^rd April).

The cohort of 137 officers, who are deployed across nine forces in England and Wales, began their training in 2022. They were selected for the competitive programme for their leadership and problem-solving skills, and passion for innovation in public service.

The officers have spent the last two years developing their policing and investigative skills, whilst playing an integral role in supporting victims of crime and solving complex cases alongside their policing colleagues.

The officers were addressed at their graduation ceremony this week (Tuesday 23rd April) by T/Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service and Programme Director for the Police Race Action Plan, Dr Alison Heydari. She said:

“The first thing I want to say is congratulations on your success, you should be proud of yourselves and proud of what you’ve achieved.

“What is so exciting to me is to see the wealth and the breadth of backgrounds in this room. Policing needs to cultivate diversity of thought and it’s exciting for me to see that there are so many different types of people in this room who are going to make a difference to policing, solve problems, and keep people safe – through establishing and sharing good practice and looking at how we can innovate and bring new thought into the police.

“The opportunities in policing are endless, and your journeys will be different to everyone else’s. Look out for those opportunities, be courageous in your leadership, and always be true to your values.”

Police Now recruits, trains and develops outstanding and diverse graduates to become neighbourhood police officers or detective constables via its programmes, and has recruited over 3,000 officers to police forces across England and Wales.