From blue to every shade of grey. An evaluation of a police service’s fast track detective scheme: student and professional perspectives of recruitment and selection of officers for the fast track to detective scheme.

There is currently a national shortage of detectives, in some police services, one in four detective’s posts are being occupied by a uniformed PC. In order to combat this, police services have been directed to develop solutions. One method is to introduce a fast track scheme, which entails the usual procedure for becoming a detective but in a more supportive and structured programme. Which is the focus of this research. The three main aims are: what are the qualities sought by developers of the programme, what were the experiences of the application and recruitment process of the participants and what are the skills of an effective detective. This research is being conducted as a case study within one police force in the UK, using a multi-methods approach. Analysis of the data found that overall, the students on this course were satisfied with the recruitment process. For the developers of the programme, there was a particular emphasis on analytical skills and findings gaps within information. There were nine key skills which were associated with being an effective detective, that was: communication, persistence, methodical, analytical, openness, inquisitive, friendly, a spectrum of