We always like to hear from our followers in the form of guest blogs. This asked us to share his story, perhaps in the hope that some of our followers might be able to shine some light on what appears to be an odd state of affairs:
“I am a current serving Police Officer in a Australia. I transferred to the sunshine to give my wife and child a better life style, as living in the U.K was not aa great as it had been when I was growing up.
But as in a lot of police families, my wife and I separated, ending in divorce, where she returned back to the U.K with our child. I remained in Australia for various of reasons, which involved a lot of sorting out which has taken my close to 7 years to complete.
It has now come to the time where I can return to the U.K with no cloud over my head here in Australia (please let me clarify, nothing to do with the job). I have made inquiries with various Services close to where my child lives, as so I can have regular contact, only to be told that I do not qualify to make an application to a Home Office Police Service.
To my surprise, even though being a British Citizen, having lived out of the U.K for over three years, I not able to make an application until I have lived in the U.K for 2 years. The reason for this is apparently for vetting.
It came to a shock to me, as not only did I serve as an officer for 6 years prior to transferring to Australia, I served in the Armed Forces for 7 years, and worked as a Civil Servant. Since I been down under, I have sought no other employment and remained a Police Officer, which would make vetting and obtaining any of my work history here relatively easy. Especially, considering when I, as in many other officers who made the transition, applied to join a Police Force here in Australia had all the necessary checks completed, to ensure they were getting the Officer who had applied to join the ranks.
It is also a growing concern, as if Police Services in the U.K would accepted re-entrants from here, not only would they have the capacity to gain experienced officers to go on virtually straight out onto the track. The Police Services would also have Officers who have been routinely armed with various accoutrements, and undergone regular training, where officers have been up-skilled to deal with various situations which have plagued this ever changing world.
But, sadly no, the Home Office wishes to have rules that do not want to assist the country that was once proud to have the best police in the world, but ensure communities suffer as in to save a quick buck here and there, reducing as many of the now rare Emergency Service worker.
I will remain hopeful, that one day the rules may change, but until that day, I will stay here making that difference.”
If you have a story or one-off blog that you would like to share with us, then you can contact our team of former emergency services personnel either through our Facebook page, via twitter ( @ES_News_ ) or you can contact us via email: contact@emergency-services.news
If you would like to write an article that you would like us to share (it can be about anything to do with the emergency services / NHS) whether you serve in the emergency services / NHS or whether you are a member of the public that has had a good experience with the emergency services, then feel free to contact our team; anonymously if you prefer.
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