Metropolitan Police 2025 graduate opportunities

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Traditionally, you’d need police experience to become a detective constable. However, we’re now giving people the chance to join directly into the role. It’s a huge change, and we’re the first police service in the country to offer this exciting opportunity.

It’s also a real challenge, but we are sure, you’ll find it’s incredibly rewarding, as you help make London safer, serve our local communities, and strive to achieve the right outcome for victims and their families. The pages within this section will outline the responsibilities, pay, benefits and training that you’ll receive and provide details on how to apply.

Detective constables are vital to investigations. In this interesting and exciting role, you will be working on varied investigations, which could include serious assaults, domestic violence, fraud, burglary, robbery and knife crime. You could be working to safeguard a child or adult and you could be pushing a case through the courts, ensuring that you get the right outcomes for the victim’s family and making your community safer.

Being a detective is all about uncovering the truth, while identifying and managing any risks. You’ll do this by analysing evidence, talking to witnesses and building trust within the community. You will talk to lots of different people, and have the compassion and skills to deal with difficult situations.

Training & profiles

As a trainee detective constable, you will start a two years’ probationary period with 18 weeks intensive training. Your training will include familiarisation visits to operational police buildings and later working within a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and safeguarding teams – putting your initial learning into practice - before being assigned to a borough where you’ll continue to develop the skills and knowledge required to become a detective constable.

You will be required to complete the National Investigators Exam and Detective training course and continue to work towards becoming a substantive detective constable. All of this will be achieved within your first two years, after which you will be successfully confirmed within the rank of constable.

Application procedure

This year, we're giving people without police experience the opportunity to join as trainee detective constables. But we're not just looking for anyone. We want people from all backgrounds, who have the desire and commitment to help protect London's communities from crime.

That's why we have a thorough application and assessment process, which is designed to help us select the right people.

Please make sure that you're fully aware of the whole process and meet the eligibility criteria before you apply.

Apply to the latest Met Police jobs on graduatejobs.com.

FAQs

Can I apply with previous conviction?
Ideally, you shouldn't have a criminal conviction or cautions record. If you do have one, acceptance will depend on the age and nature of the offence. The Met is unable to state whether your convictions record will affect your application before you apply. This will be determined from the full and confidential information provided during the recruitment and selection process.

If you don't tell us about any cautions, investigations or criminal convictions that may be linked to you at an early stage, your application could be refused simply because you weren't being open and upfront. It might have been accepted if you were. So if in doubt, disclose.

Are there fitness requirements?
While you don't need to be an Olympic athlete to be a trainee detective constable, you must be able to cope with the physical and mental demands of the job. Certain medical conditions may prevent this.

What about tattoos?
Anyone who has a tattoo which could be offensive to any religion or belief, or is in any way discriminatory, violent or intimidating, will not be accepted. Tattoos on the face, visible above a collar line or on the hands are not acceptable for any role within the Met.

Who can apply?
You will need to have lived in London within the geographical area covered by the Met for at least three of the last six years to be eligible to apply.

Recruiting new trainee detective constables with a knowledge and understanding of London (through living in the capital) will enable more effective operational policing through better understanding of local issues, a deeper knowledge of local communities and a more direct understanding of the diversity of cultures.

If you've been abroad serving in the armed forces or working for the UK government, you can apply if you've lived in a London borough for three of the last six years you've lived in the UK. Discounting any periods of time where you have been deployed overseas or across the UK. We'll only check that you meet these requirements if we make a conditional job offer.