Requirements

Senior police officer - requirements

As a senior police officer, you’ll use your excellent communication and organisational skills to manage operational teams and coordinate an area or unit. Learn more about a career in a senior police role, find out what it involves and what you’ll need to study and do to get a role.

Know what you'll need to land a job below.

What qualifications do you need to be a senior police officer?

Subjects to consider for a career as a police officer include:

Constitutional / Public Law

A degree in a social science will prove useful although graduates with a degree in any subject can apply for a two-year work-based Level 6 post diploma training programme.

Please note this is a beta version. We'll continue to improve our suggestions here so that we show you the most relevant subjects.

Do you need a postgraduate qualification to be a senior police officer?

Although it’s not essential to do a postgraduate course, it can help develop your skills and increase your career opportunities.

Examples of relevant taught and research degrees at postgraduate level include:

Applied policing practice
Counter terrorism
Criminal investigation
Criminal justice
Criminology with forensic psychology
Policing and intelligence analysis
Police leadership, strategy and organisation
Rural and environmental crime and policing
Tourism, security and policing
Working with adults and young offenders

What skills do you need to be a senior police officer?

As well as extensive knowledge and experience of law enforcement, you’ll need to have excellent customer service skills and excellent leadership qualities.

Hard skills usually include:

Credit and loans
Criminal procedure
Finance
Law enforcement
Nursing
Providing legal advice
Service delivery

Soft skills include:

Communications
Customer service
Decision making
Investigation
Leadership
Management
Planning
Presentations
Problem solving

Do you need work experience to be a senior police officer?

When considering a career in the police force, it’s a good idea to get some work experience to make sure it’s the right role for you. You could volunteer with organisations like the volunteer police cadets or apply to become a volunteer police community support officer.

You’ll normally need to show substantial experience as a junior police officer or have successfully completed a management trainee programme to secure a senior police officer role.