A former Hucknall firefighter has made the switch to another blue-light emergency service, joining Nottinghamshire police. Jason Bailey, 34, was one of 15 new student detectives who took part in a passing out parade on Friday (14 June).
Bailey joined Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service after leaving school, and clocked up five years in the service, based at Hucknall fire station. After leaving the service, he worked for the Ministry of Justice, managing high-risk offenders released from custody.
Now he will return to responding to 999 calls after becoming a student detective. With his initial training behind him, he will spend the next six months on the beat with the Beeston response team to gain valuable policing experience.
The trainee detective programme is an intake scheme for new police officers. After an initial 21 weeks training at force headquarters in Arnold, recruits are placed at an operational police station to gain experience as a uniformed frontline officer. They then move into a detective constable role for continued dedicated training.
“Having previously been a firefighter, I’m looking forward to going back out on blue lights and feeling that buzz again”, PC Bailey said. “I’m looking forward to helping people. It won’t be easy. There’ll no doubt be challenging situations when you’re going out to people who are having the worst moment of their life – possibly as bad as a loved one dying.
“People in those moments are looking for a miracle. When I was aged 19 and a firefighter, I had to be that miracle. Now that I’ve joined the police, I might have to be that miracle again.”
He continued: “For me, I’ve always wanted to help people. It’s like a moral calling in life. I enjoy working with people and getting stuck into challenging situations. I also like experiencing an adrenaline buzz and making a difference.
“I’m really excited to get going. It feels like a long time since I last served the community by responding to 999 calls. I’m looking forward to doing it again but in a different way.”
Friday’s passing out parade was overseen by chief constable Kate Meynell. Addressing the families and friends who gathered at force headquarters, she said: “I’m really confident standing in front of you right now that we’ve given your loved ones the basic skills they need to go onto the next stage of their learning.
“The training they’ve received here over the past 21 weeks will stand them in really good stead to now go into the communities that we serve and try out their skills in real life situations – and to understand the level of quality service we want to deliver.
“We want to provide the best possible service to victims of communities right across Nottinghamshire and I wish all the new recruits well in their roles.”
More details about the trainee detective recruitment is available on the Nottinghamshire Police website.
