CPD courses for Police Officers

A guide to CPD for Police Officers

To become a police officer in the UK, you typically need to meet certain eligibility criteria, such as having the right to work in the UK, being at least 18 years old, and having a clean criminal record. You will also need to pass various assessments and tests, including medical and fitness assessments, interviews and background checks. Once you have passed these, you will undergo training at a police academy. It’s worth noting that the exact requirements and process may vary depending on the police force you are applying to.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training is crucial for police officers because it helps them stay up to date with the latest developments in legislation and law enforcement and enhances their skills and knowledge. It also ensures that they can provide better service to the community, maintain public safety, and handle complex situations with confidence and competence. Furthermore, CPD training helps police officers to identify and address any gaps in their performance, which can improve their overall effectiveness as professionals. It is a part of a police officer’s job requirement to complete Continuing Professional Development (CPD). Police officers are regulated by professional bodies such as the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing in the UK. These organisations set standards for the police profession and provide guidance on training and development to ensure that police officers are competent and effective in their roles.

CPD certificates

All of the CPD Online College courses that we offer result in you obtaining a CPD certificate. A CPD certificate signifies that you have successfully completed a course, and passed the test which proves that you have furthered your knowledge. Your certificate will be available for you to access immediately via a download from our website; complete with your name, the course title and level, as well as pass mark, associated accrediting bodies, and date of completion. This can act as a strong piece of evidence that will count towards your CPD training. If you prefer to keep important documents as a hard copy, you can simply print your certificate off, or we can send your certificate to you in the post.

Keeping CPD evidence 

You should keep your CPD certificate to use as evidence that you have been completing your CPD training. It is a requirement to keep CPD training evidence to prove to regulators that you are still progressing in the field. To keep CPD evidence you should keep documents that relate to the CPD training you have been doing to show the type of activity that you have been working on. As well as CPD courses, some training activities could include research, attending webinars or conferences, e-learning, job shadowing and mentoring. As well as keeping CPD evidence documents you can log your CPD hours to further show the time you have spent on your learning.

Logging CPD hours 

Some regulators require you to spend a target number of hours on CPD training activities each year. This number can vary between industries, so we advise checking this with your employer or regulatory body. As well as this, logging CPD hours can showcase the variety of CPD activities that you have completed and help you to identify where to spend your time learning to achieve a holistic CPD portfolio.

Renewing CPD certificates

The CPD certificate that you receive upon completing our online courses will have an expiry date because the courses themselves are updated to maintain accurate teaching. All industries have updates in the field that you must stay abreast of, but police officers in particular must always ensure that they uphold the latest legislative changes in enforcing the law to the public. Usually, your CPD course will need updating every two years, by way of completing the course again to refresh your knowledge, or by completing the next level of your course to help you progress in your field.