How would you expect a trainee detective to describe herself? Perhaps not as “pink and fluffy”, but that’s how Tariro Kufa, 29, sees herself. She concentrates on the softer sides of her personality and insists it’s important to be true to yourself. She explains: “People relate better to that than being something that you’re not.”
Kufa is almost six months into the two-year Police Now National Detective Programme. She used to be a social worker but was looking for a change. “I enjoyed my previous job, but I was looking for something that was challenging, fast-paced and exciting. I still wanted to use the skills I’d gained from my time as a social worker, like being a good communicator, empathetic and being resilient,” she says. “Because Police Now looks for candidates who have never considered policing, I thought it’d be a conducive environment for me to be able to learn something completely new.”
She’s seven weeks into her practical training, after spending her first three months learning a combination of theory and practical delivery at the Police Now Detective Academy. But before she joins the detectives in the field, she will spend 10 weeks shadowing a police constable throughout their everyday activities.
The day-to-day monotony of the nine-to-five doesn’t seem to exist for Kufa, because “no two days are the same”. After attending a briefing and being given the duties for the day, she could be doing anything from interviewing suspects in custody, property searches, responding to reports of antisocial behaviour, responding to 999 calls, to patrolling her allocated “beat”. She explains: “On our beat there’s an area that is well known for drug dealing, so we’ll go and patrol there. In this case, when there is drug paraphernalia around (needles, etc), being aware of officer personal safety is important.”
Part of her duties also includes taking victim statements. She explains that, as well as the functional side of recording the information, safeguarding vulnerable victims of crime is a key part of the role. Getting the opportunity to use her existing people skills but now combining that with being the reassuring police presence a victim needs, she can see how everyday duties like this go a long way in helping build public trust and confidence in the police.
Over a 10-week period, she is assessed by her tutor constable with the aim of achieving her independent patrol status. Once she achieves this, she’ll be allowed out on patrol on her own. This is also the key to progressing to the next stage of the programme: her time with the criminal investigation department (CID). “When I land in CID, that’s when I’ll be in the company of a detective constable,” she says.
While getting to CID is the driver behind Kufa’s career change, she appreciates the value of spending time with uniformed officers: “I think training to be a police officer is very important, I can’t fully grasp the detective part if I haven’t done this – there would be a gap in my knowledge.”
One unexpected bonus of being in uniform happened when Kufa, who is black African, was spotted by some young girls: “I’ve been out on the street and it’s really good when I see girls like me waving at me. I hope I’ve inspired that little girl to want to be a police officer one day. It’s something I never thought I’d be able to do. But if I’m inspiring young people, especially girls and boys like me, to join the police, then that’s a good thing because it’s important to have police who are more reflective of the community and can relate to a wide range of people and experiences.
“If the police want to have good relations with the community, they need to be representative of those communities,” she says. This was a key motivation for Kufa when joining the Police Now National Detective Programme.
While she’s only a quarter of the way through her training, she’s proud of the contributions she’s already made to investigations so early in her journey to becoming a detective. “It’s a rewarding career,” she says. “Just arriving at a scene where there is havoc, your mere presence calms things down. For me, that’s important, as I would like to foster good relations within the community. It feels really good when you make that difference.”
