DCG Success Stories

Work experience gained on her Derby College degree course proved invaluable when trainee police officer Charis Oliver applied to join Leicestershire Police.

Charis, who is 21, completed a BA (Hons) in Security & Offender Management at Broomfield after lecturers on her BTEC level 3 Public Services course convinced her to move on to higher education.

Charis had never thought of herself as academic, but after finishing a foundation degree in Criminal Justice, she went on to to gain her full degree – also achieving a Higher Education Peak Award in 2019.

Now based with Leicestershire Police in Loughborough, she added: “What I learned on the BA (Hons) course definitely gave me an advantage, especially when I was applying to join the police.

Literally thousands of people apply every year so there’s huge competition for probationary training places and the selection process is rigorous. I practised for months and months before my interviews.

“On my foundation degree we had some great work experience organised through Derby College, including covert security testing at airports and the chance to work with offenders in prisons.

I talked about this in my interviews and the police were really interested – especially in the covert security work.”

And Charis was also grateful that her degree course covered presenting skills.

She added: “Part of the police selection process involved me giving a presentation. As always, my lecturer Chrissie was immensely helpful and supportive.

She even offered to provide me with some students so I had an audience to practise on.”