PXP249 - Tactical Flight Officer (Police Constable)

THE FOLLOWING VACANCY HAS BEEN ADVERTISED NATIONALLY

Tactical Flight Officer (Police Constable)
National Police Air Service (NPAS)
Locations:
North Weald - Essex
Benson - Oxfordshire
Birmingham - West Midlands
Hawarden - Cheshire
Husbands Bosworth - Leicestershire
Carr Gate - West Yorkshire

Secondment - 40 hours per week.

Applications are invited for the role of Tactical Flight Officer with the National Police Air Service (NPAS) from substantive Constables who have completed their 2 year probationary period by the closing date of this advert.

In order to preserve the integrity and fairness of the selection process applications cannot be accepted from individuals who have applied within the last 12 months.

This will be a secondment for Police officers. You will require permission from your current Force in order to be eligible to apply. THIS APPROVAL MUST BE IN PLACE PRIOR TO SUBMITTING AN APPLICATION.

In line with the national agreement, the length of the secondment is expected to be for 5 years and will be reviewed at that point. Officers will have to comply with their home force policy.

We are looking to recruit a number of suitably experienced substantive Constables to be trained as Tactical Flight Officers (TFOs) with the National Police Air Service serving at the locations identified. No prior aviation experience is required to be successful as your personal skills and abilities will be assessed throughout the selection process.

NPAS provides borderless air support to all police forces across England and Wales 24/7, 365 days a year from a national network of bases. On a daily basis, NPAS helps save lives, tackles criminality and keeps people and communities safe. Police aircrew provide effective aerial support to ground based officers and in doing so improve operational response to incidents within the highest safety standards. Crews fly to a variety of missions including fast-paced, dynamic tasks and support large public events, Heads of State visits, and large demonstrations. On occasion, the crew can be called upon to land so the TFOs can assist people in distress, render first aid, or on rare occasions use police powers to arrest.

What we can offer you:

• Work in a state of the art aircraft, dealing with front line operational policing from a completely unique perspective across England and Wales.
• A stable working routine with the ability to plan ahead with a fixed 4 on 4 off 12 hour roster.
• Multi-Agency working
•A rewarding opportunity to enhance your career, develop personally and professionally, and also gain experience rarely found at this rank level.
•Training opportunities to obtain additional qualifications and courses, both aviation and non-aviation related, for lateral career development.

Once trained as a Tactical Flight Officer you will:

•Fly as an operational crew member within a police aircraft ensuring the safe and effective use of specialist role equipment to implement effective police air operations.
•‘Tactically navigate & map-read to an incident including on scene management and situational awareness in a safe and efficient manner and be ‘spatially aware’.
•Carry out searches, coordinate resources and effectively deal with emergency situations including command and control of police incidents and resources from the air.
•Communicate effectively at all times within an aircraft crew environment, other air assets and ground based units.
•Prioritise multiple strands of information from various sources and enhance flight safety.

Finally this is an opportunity to gain knowledge and experience working in an aviation environment and to learn, adopt and foster the safety and reflective teachings that such an environment promotes. The lessons and additional skills learnt from this are transferable and can be applied into shaping a future modern police force.

Selection process:

The selection process for this role does not require any previous aviation knowledge or flight experience. There are several hurdles to cover to reach the required standard, which is the same for all TFO and Base Manager candidates. This is to ensure our safety critical role is maintained and that suitable candidates are able to develop their skills through effective training balanced with operational policing exposure.

The stages of recruitment are as follows:

1. Application form received by NPAS.
2. TFO Combined skills assessment (ground based) (1 day - week commencing 27 February 2023 to be held at an NPAS location TBC).
3. Aircrew aptitude testing – RAF Cranwell (½ day - 13 March 2023)
4. Competency based interview (1 hour)
5. Candidate flight assessment (3 hours including brief and debrief)

Due to the volume of candidates, these assessments take time to complete with an average time from application to Aviation Foundation Course being roughly 3-4 months however, this could be longer dependent upon number of candidates in the process. Each of these assessments are described on our website: www.npas.police.uk

Once selected and prior to posting or secondment, officers are temporarily attached to NPAS and are required to pass a four-week structured Aviation Foundation Course (AFC) normally away from your normal area of work in another part of the country. These courses are planned to run during May, Jun/July and September 2023. Where this causes issues with an officer’s personal circumstances, some reasonable adjustments can be considered and implemented but accommodation and subsistence would be provided for the duration of the course. The AFC contains a number of continuous assessment checks on the way to qualification. This Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) required course includes such elements as:-

• Ground and aviation safety.
• Safe operations around police aircraft and the aviation environment.
• Tactical navigation using aviation charts and street atlases around specific task locations; both pre planned
locations and ad hoc.
• Fire training.
• Crew resource management (CRM).
• Basic technical equipment training.

The course includes a summative final assessment of suitability to continue onto posting/secondment. If a candidate is unable to demonstrate the required development during the Aviation Foundation Course, Officers will be returned to Force. Success on this course is required to pass onto technical and operational training in the very limited timescales that we have.

The application process will close at 23:55 hrs on Monday 13th February 2023.

NPAS has an expectation that Officers will not arrive into post with previously accrued Rest Days or TOIL.