Volunteer Special Constabulary?

Disappointed Slacker SG

I am thinking of joining this to have a taste of life as a Police Officer/Senior Police Officer. Currently already had a full-time job but I am thinking of switching careers sometime in the future, so wouldn't it be better if I want to know how a potential future job would be like through volunteer work?

As in, anyone has any advice as to whether one should attempt volunteer work before moving on to really aiming for this as a full-time job?

Itedino SG

3 min enthu. You better consider carefully. You need to commit a certain percentage of hours working every month. You are paid around 3-4 dollars allowance.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Haha... you won't get to choose to join as PO or SPO. Your education qualifications determines that.

You can definitely try out as a VSC first before joining as a PO/SPO. But whether life as PO/SPO would be the same is another issue...

If you really want to become a PO/SPO, you should join direct instead.

auditor SG

I am PES C1 during ns. I got no injuries except got stress problems so got PES C1.

If I go upgrade my PES C1 to B, can I join the volunteer special constabulary?

ndmmxiaomayi SG

VSC requirements are clear. As long as you are PES B and above, you can apply to join.

But I don't know how PES works since I've never done NS before. If it's upgradeable, then I guess it's possible? I've only read of downgrades, not upgrades (except temp downgrade cases).

obakak SG

Hi,

I'm in the same situation as the thread starter. (ie. considering joining the SPF but wanting to experience police work 1st hand through VSC before commiting fully to signing on)

But I'm worried about the panel interview. My concern is will the interviewer be willing to accept a candidate whom they know will quit, after I had decided whether to sign on or not. Or should I just keep my intention to sign on from them??

Also, I understand that the panel will be interested to know if we can manage our time with the extra involvement. What I hope to find out is that, will they be asking about school results? Embarrassed to say, my CGPA is rather bad, so I'm afraid it reflects bad on my ability to manage time well.

Is my chances to get in slim? Should I not waste time to apply?

Hope some kind some kind souls can give me advices.

Thanks in advance! :)

volleyballgal SG

Hi, having read through all the VSC threads in the forum, I understand that the application process can get rather lengthy. Anyone knows if there are year round intakes for VSCs or only one intake per year, and if so, when is it? I applied during a roadshow conducted at NUS last week.

funniegal SG

i wan be police officer when i was younger...but i just cant sign the contract ..just hate being bounded by tat.

Now old liao..still has the urge of joining..but bo stamina leh..still can bo 0.0 I mean be VSC lor.. How long is the training huh? Any female joining bo. 0.0

Now jobless..rot home also sian. hehe.

Klmw kevin SG

@Disappointed Slacker, joining the VSC does give you some experience in policing work. The benefit of VSC is that even in the future, you decided not to join the regular, you still can stay in VSC to fuilfil ur passion in fighting crime and keeping singapore safe and secure. However, you have to bear in mind that all VSC recruits will have to go through a 6 to 9 mths non residental training before they are being declared as full fleged police officer. If in any case, you have decided to switch over to join the regular, the VSC trainings are not transferrable, meaning to say you will have to go through the regular training again which is about another 6 mths for JO and 9 mths of SPO.

Most importantly, you need to have to passion in policing work before you decide to join VSC. As like itedino mention, the allowance is insignificant and the commitment you have to made even before being on the ground is quite high.

Btw, all VSC recruits pass out as Corporal, regardless of your education qualification. Even if you have a PHD degree or even if you hold a very high rank in other uniform organization, you will still have to start from a corporal.

Klmw kevin SG

Indeed, like what ndmmxiaomayi mention, the life of a VSC PO/SPO is totally different from the regular PO/SPO. As VSC officers are volunteer, there are many things that as a volunteer you cannot do. Such as investigation etc. VSC roles are mainly groundwork and all the execution and action pack stuff. Whereas for the regular, they have to also be involve in the planning of the ops, the execution and the final debriefing. Therefore as you can imagine, regulars have lots of paperwork to do before and after every ops of uniform duty.

@obakak, it really have to depends on how soon are you planning to join the regular. I know of people who applied for VSC and inform the panel that they will be joining the regular in a year time, then they are rejected. As just the vsc training alone will take up about 9 mths. Definitely they will ask you about ur commitment level and how well u can cope with time management as they also do not want to get uncommited people. Another criteria that they will be looking for is your passion to serve. If you have a strong passion and can prove to them that you can manage ur time well, you can apply too. Furthermore if you final aim is to join the regular, the experience that you gain in VSC wil definitely help you in ur regular interview. But that is also provided if you serve a significant hours in VSC before you can get the experience.

@volleyballgal, Thanks you supporting us at the VSC roadshow in NUS. Rest assure, the recruitment process has been speed up by quite a lot as compared to the past. As the VSC is also looking at expand its strength to supplement the regular force. I understand that there are several intakes of VSC every year. As for when will be the next intake, it have to depends of the number of successful applicants who can form a squad and the number of available instructor who can take the squad.

@funniegal, yes! definitely you can join. There are many vsc who share the same childhood ambition as you. However, when they grow up they went to work for the provate sector. But many came back to serve as a vsc as well. In fact there are many female vsc in the organization. Since you have nothing to do at home, why not join as a vsc to fulfil your dream. =)

I will be more than happy to answer your questions. If anyone is interested, PM me and I can get you the application form!

[email protected] SG

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Joseph83 SG

Just a quick question - does a Cisco Police officer have to undergo VSC training if he joins VSC?

Klmw kevin SG

Yes, as I believe the training in Cisco and VSC have some differences.

CasperV SG

I didn't bother to read all the posts in this thread, but before anything happens, do know that you have you to go through some compulsory basic police training at Home Team Academy. It is a rewarding thing as a VSC to some extent, (you get to handle the revolver, basic radio communication procedure, arrest procedure, arrest report handling) but do note the commitment is no different than a regular police officer.
Though you are "part-time", you still uphold the standard police values. And that comes with the same form of responsibility, except you work a couple of days a month.

You can't be saying oh sorry I screwed up, but I'm just a VSC. Big NO.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

CasperV is right. Also, your uniform is no different from the regulars. You screw up, the public will see that you are police officer, not VSC.

So don't think you are VSC and can escape. Once you don the uniform, you have to treat yourself as a police officer, not volunteer.

Everybody will undergo training regardless of their background. Even former police officers are required to undergo training, part of it is refreshment and the other part is to be updated on the processes and procedures. Whether they let you skip some of the lessons I don't know.

Rsoul SG

Did anyone attended the 9 June 2012 Briefing and aptitude test?