{"id":805,"date":"2024-07-01T14:40:34","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T13:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/policing\/?p=805"},"modified":"2024-07-01T15:14:36","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T14:14:36","slug":"uwe-bristol-pcda-alumni-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/policing\/uwe-bristol-pcda-alumni-spotlight\/","title":{"rendered":"UWE Bristol PCDA Alumni Spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In this blog, we shine the spotlight on UWE Bristol Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) graduate Duncan Gordon. We have a growing number of PCDA Alumni and it was nice to catch up over a coffee and find out how Duncan is getting on with his career in Avon & Somerset Police. Having successfully completed the PCDA, we also discover some top tips from Duncan for apprentices progressing through our programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What inspired you to pursue a policing degree apprenticeship at UWE?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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My journey is different to most, arriving in policing as a mature student after a 20-year career as a schoolteacher. I had always wanted to join the police, so the PCDA programme gave me the chance to fulfil that aspiration. I joined the PCDA programme in 2020 right at the start of the COVID pandemic, graduating just over a year ago in June 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What have you been working on since leaving UWE and what is your current role?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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Since UWE, I have become a nationally accredited PACE Advisor supporting Senior Investigating Officers’ (SIOs) on a murder investigation, passed both my National Investigators\u2019 Exam (NIE) and Sergeant\u2019s Exam and most recently became an accredited PiP2 Detective. I have worked as an Assistant Detective Sergeant in a CID Core Team and in the last month have gained temporary promotion as one of only 16 Detective Sergeants across the constabulary working in the specialist Bluestone Department, overseeing investigations into rape and serious sexual offences. I am currently studying to take my Sergeants\u2019 Board at the end of this year with the aim of becoming a substantive Detective Sergeant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What skills did you acquire during your apprenticeship that you find most valuable in your current role?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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I would say skills and mindset. Applying skills and knowledge learnt at UWE back on district is easy to demonstrate. I remember leading a briefing for a drugs warrant, with a room full of hugely experienced firearms officers, dog handlers, drone operators, search teams and response cops. I used the IIMARCH template from my Craft Skills module which gave me the structure and confidence to deliver a successful briefing. Working in CID, I was the Officer in the Case (OIC) for an investigation into a critical incident that received national media attention. I was able to use the knowledge of applying the National Decision Model (NDM) and Investigative Building Blocks to devise a successful investigation strategy that resulted in a criminal conviction and recognition for effective joint working across departments.

Mindset is less easy to demonstrate. However, as part of the promotion application officers must answer the questions \u2018Why me? Why now?\u2019 In preparation for this, I have been keeping a journal at the end of each month to record what I have done well and where I have developed from any mistakes made. The regular reflections written during the PCDA programme gave me a good foundation for reflective practice, allowing me to focus on my learning. Working in the Bluestone Department we must look at the whole story of offending, finding ways to disrupt offenders and protect victims. This is problem solving policing. Stepping back from the detail of an investigation to understand why it is occurring and how it can be prevented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Studying for my NIE and Sergeants\u2019 exams required commitment and dedication as these had to be done at the same time as carrying out my daily duties in CID. I was able to draw on the strategies that I used to complete my PCDA Year 3 dissertation where I was also studying at the same time as working. It certainly was not easy but knowing that I had done it before gave me the confidence to know that I could do it again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced during your apprenticeship, and how did you overcome them?<\/strong>
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Spending the first year of my apprenticeship in lockdown, one of the biggest challenges was the sense of isolation. All of our teaching was remote learning so it was not as easy to talk through any issues or questions. I was fortunate that there were other people on my response team who were on different years of the PCDA programme, so I made a conscious effort to ask them questions. When I was finally able to attend UWE in person, I made a small study group of colleagues from my response station who I could talk to, share ideas, ask questions, and realise that we were all facing similar concerns. Over years 2 and 3 we would regularly meet, share news, help answer questions, laugh and develop a sense of camaraderie that I had never experienced in my previous career. I now consider those people some of my closest friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you share a success story or a proud moment from your time on the PCDA?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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I had personal successes on the PCDA programme, obtaining high marks in individual modules and my overall degree classification. However, without doubt the proudest moment was sharing the success of my colleagues with whom I had developed a strong friendship over the PCDA programme. We all faced different challenges over the three years but knowing that we had been there for each without question or judgement gave me an immense sense of collective pride. Four years ago, I didn\u2019t know their names, now I would do anything for them and know that they would do the same for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What advice would you give to someone on the PCDA at UWE?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My advice for colleagues currently on the PCDA programme is to show the Force value of \u2018Courage\u2019 in your studies. That may be showing the courage to overcome embarrassment in standing in front of the group to give a presentation or participate in a role-play exercise. It may be the courage to have the humility to ask for help when you are struggling with understanding a learning point or if an external factor is affecting your wellbeing. It is also the courage to be completely honest with yourself, reflecting and identifying how your mindset is affecting outcomes and not deflecting them on others. It is a cliche, but what you get from the course really will reflect what you put into it. Finally, be courageous to offer others help. You may feel that you don\u2019t know the answers, but demonstrating compassion and active listening is extremely powerful.

I would also suggest volunteering for everything when back on district. Go to all types of jobs, work with all types of teams, demonstrate a \u2018How can I help?\u2019 attitude. Be professionally curious. It will put you in the position of gaining a range of experiences, helping you work out what you want to do and just as importantly, what parts of policing are not for you. A positive mindset also gets you noticed. Respect people\u2019s rank, but do not be intimidated by it. Make the first move to initiate conversations, you will find that people are more than happy to share their advice and knowledge with you. Do not be surprised if the people who get selected for courses, operations and promotion are the ones who demonstrate positivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A final thought?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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In policing we invariably meet people having the worst day of their lives. Be the person that you would want to turn up if you or your loved one were having the worst day of your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duncan has certainly made an outstanding start to his policing career and we all wish him the very best for his Sergeants’ Promotion Board. We also hope to share more Alumni success stories over the coming months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editorial Team<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Paul Williamson (Editor-in-Chief); Claudia McCready (Lecturer); Eve Smietanko (Joint Programme Leader & Senior Lecturer); Ian Lowe (Senior Lecturer) & Micah Hassell (Senior Lecturer).<\/p>\n\n\n

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If you would like to be a guest blogger, please contact Police.Blog@uwe.ac.uk<\/p>\n\n\n\n



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In this blog, we shine the spotlight on UWE Bristol Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) graduate Duncan Gordon. We have a growing number of PCDA Alumni and it was nice to catch up over a coffee and find out how Duncan is getting on with his career in Avon & Somerset Police. Having successfully completed … Continue reading “UWE Bristol PCDA Alumni Spotlight”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10,72,14,3,73,5],"class_list":["post-805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-avon-somerset-police","tag-friendship","tag-pcda","tag-policing","tag-skills","tag-uwe-bristol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/policing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/policing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/policing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/policing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/82"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/policing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/policing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":870,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/policing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805\/revisions\/870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/policing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/policing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/policing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/policing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}