[1] Other police forces around the United Kingdom continued this trend of replacing the CID officers with civilians.
During this course, a prospective SOCO will learn about fingerprint recovery techniques, DNA retrieval, photography, road traffic collisions (RTCs), and trace evidence, amongst other areas of knowledge.
SOCOs are expected to demonstrate a high level of further learning by liaising with colleagues, peers and other services within the law enforcement sector.
This is demonstrated by submitting six dissertations discussing specialist forensic areas or elaborating on existing techniques or equipment.
The introduction of the CRFP is aiming to raise the standard of practise and credibility within the forensic departments who work alongside law enforcement agencies.
At an Extraordinary General Meeting the Board of the CRFP decided the organisation could no longer fulfil its objects and therefore resolved that the company should cease trading.
The key factors in this were given as: 1. the decision of the Chief Executive of the National Policing Improvement Agency communicated in a letter of 4 February 2009 that he was “not currently prepared to authorise the release of any money to the CRFP for the 2009/2010 financial year” 2. the circular letter to all chief constables issued by the Association of Chief Police Officers Forensics Portfolio holder and the Chief Executive of the National Policing Improvement Agency dated 6 January 2009 strongly encouraging police forces “to review their future commitment to CRFP registration and the financial commitment that this requires” and 3. the consequent decision of the Metropolitan Police Service, communicated in a letter dated 2 February 2009, that “the MPS from 1 April 2009 will cease to fund subscription of MPS staff that wish to register for CRFP and will remove CRFP registration as a condition for pay progression” and 4. the decision of the Home Office, communicated in a letter dated 31 February 2009, that they “can see no basis to commit the further £175,000 of public money requested by the CRFP”.
Entrance requirements vary between individual forces - most expect candidates to possess at least good GCSEs or A levels.