Detention Officer
Recruitment and Interview

Detention officers (also called custody detention officers or designated detention officers) work in police custody suites, looking after people who have been arrested: booking them in under the custody sergeant's direction, searching, taking fingerprints, photographs and DNA, carrying out welfare checks, and keeping the custody record. They are police staff, not officers.

Police-employed detention officers get their powers by designation from the chief officer under section 38 of the Police Reform Act 2002, as policing support officers. Schedule 3B to the Act lists what can never be designated, including arrest, custody officer functions (with a narrow exception) and intimate searches. Detention staff employed by contractors are designated under section 39, with the powers set out in Part 3 of Schedule 4. Our detention officer pay and role guide covers the work in more detail.

• Qualifications. The College of Policing's profile says "None specified". Thames Valley asks for GCSE English (grade 9 to 4) or level 2 Functional Skills; West Yorkshire says no formal qualifications are required; the Met says none, but asks for a good standard of English.
• Age. 18 or over at the Met, West Yorkshire and Lancashire.
• Driving. Thames Valley and Lancashire require a full licence (Lancashire also asks for access to a vehicle); West Yorkshire does not.
• Distance. Thames Valley says applicants living more than 40 road miles or an hour's commute away are unlikely to progress.
• Experience. Not usually required. Cheshire's current advert is an exception, asking for at least three years in a people-oriented environment.
• Vetting. Recruitment vetting is the College of Policing's minimum for all police staff; Cheshire's role profile lists recruitment vetting.

Detention officer recruitment follows the usual police staff pattern, with a stronger emphasis on medical and physical checks. Thames Valley's published stages are a good example: a self-assessment questionnaire, an application, an interview, a provisional offer, then vetting, references, medical checks and a fitness test, and finally a formal offer. Lancashire's are similar, with a health declaration and medical including a hearing test and a urine drug test. The Met's medical and fitness stage covers eyesight, hearing, substance misuse, fingerprints and the bleep test.

West Yorkshire says the whole process takes 3 to 6 months. As with any police staff role, vetting is often the longest stage.

Detention officer interviews are competency and values based, like other police staff interviews. The custody environment shapes what panels look for: calm under provocation, care for vulnerable people, strict attention to procedure and records, and the integrity to speak up. Some original practice questions:

Good examples often come from care work, healthcare, security, hospitality, retail, prison or youth work, and the armed forces: anywhere you have dealt with people who were upset, unwell, drunk or hostile while following rules. Use STAR (situation, task, action, result) and focus on what you did and said. The police staff interview guide explains how answers are scored.

The College of Policing's custody guidance says custody staff must be "fully trained and operationally competent in their role before being appointed". It sets a first aid standard: police custody staff must be trained to at least modules 2 and 3 before taking up post, with refresher training at least every 12 months. Forces must also provide personal safety training and refreshers.

Force courses we found run from five to seven weeks: five at Thames Valley (officer safety, de-escalation, restraint and first aid) and Lancashire (at Hutton HQ), six at West Yorkshire (custody law, first aid, officer safety, IT and biometrics) and seven at the Met (emergency life support, handcuffs, legislation and designated powers, with pass/fail assessments and a probationary first year).

Custody suites run around the clock. The Met uses 12-hour day and night shifts; Lancashire 12-hour shifts; West Yorkshire a six-on, four-off pattern of two earlies, two lates and two nights; Cheshire asks for a 24-hour shift pattern.

Published pay: Lancashire £24,675 rising to £28,653; West Yorkshire £27,204 plus a 20% shift allowance and weekend enhancements; Cheshire £27,204 to £29,859 plus 20%; Thames Valley circa £37,484 including unsocial hours allowances from 1 September 2026. See police staff pay scales for how grades work.

1. Check the advert's requirements: licence, qualifications, distance, and whether there is a fitness test.
2. If there is a fitness test, find out which. If it is the bleep test, our fitness guides cover it.
3. Prepare real examples of handling conflict, caring for vulnerable people, following procedure and speaking up.
4. Be ready to explain why custody, and how you will manage 12-hour shifts and nights.
5. Get your vetting information together early.