Same skills, new setting: could Devon and Cornwall be your next move?

Experienced Armed Response Officers looking for their next move are being invited to consider a transfer to Devon & Cornwall Police, combining the operational challenge of specialist policing with the opportunity for a different pace of life away from the job.

For an Armed Response Officer, moving force is about much more than changing the badge on a uniform.

The operational challenge matters. So does the team, the opportunity to maintain specialist skills and the chance to continue developing professionally.

But experienced officers may also be asking another question: what kind of life can I build alongside my policing career?

Devon & Cornwall Police believes it can offer both.

The force is seeking experienced Armed Response Officers who want to continue working in demanding specialist roles while policing one of the most geographically diverse areas in the country.

From busy cities and major road networks to rural communities, national parks and hundreds of miles of coastline, policing Devon and Cornwall presents its own distinctive operational challenges.

For officers considering a transfer, it could represent not simply a career move, but a life move.

Armed response with variety

Transferring officers will bring skills they have already worked hard to earn.

Within Devon & Cornwall Police, an ARO will deal with firearms incidents, terrorist threats, spontaneous armed deployments and planned operations across a large and varied force area.

The role also offers something that may particularly appeal to officers looking for greater operational variety.

ARV officers are dual skilled across Armed Response and Roads Policing, providing the opportunity to work across two demanding areas of frontline specialist policing.

Officers also work alongside teams including Roads Policing, Dogs, Drones and Marine Policing, supporting both everyday demand and critical operations across Devon and Cornwall.

For experienced firearms officers, the proposition is not about stepping away from challenging operational policing. It is about applying those skills in a different environment.

Building the next stage of a specialist career

A transfer can also provide an opportunity to think about where a policing career goes next.

Devon & Cornwall Police offers development opportunities within Armed Policing and wider Specialist Operations.

For suitably qualified transferees, this can include opportunities to progress into roles such as a full-time Firearms Instructor.

At the same time, officers transferring into the force retain recognised pay, pension and annual leave entitlements in accordance with transfer arrangements.

The aim is to provide experienced officers with the chance to continue building on their existing skills rather than starting again.

Life outside the job

There is another significant part of the offer.

Devon and Cornwall have 730 miles of coastline, two National Parks and communities ranging from the cities of Plymouth and Exeter to market towns, villages and remote rural areas.

For officers currently balancing demanding shifts with lengthy commutes or the pressures of living and working in a major metropolitan area, relocating to the South West can offer a very different proposition.

Days away from work might involve the coast, walking, cycling, surfing or sailing. For others, the attraction may simply be having more time with family and a different balance between work and home.

That lifestyle should not disguise the realities of policing such a large and diverse area. The geography itself creates operational challenges, while officers must respond across urban, rural and coastal communities.

But for those who want to retain the demands and professionalism of armed policing without assuming that a specialist career has to dictate where and how they live, it provides another option.

Support with making the move

Relocating is a big decision, particularly for officers moving with partners or families.

Devon & Cornwall Police is currently offering a relocation and temporary accommodation package of up to £8,000 for eligible transferees where relocation support is included within the relevant recruitment opportunity.

Eligible transferees must relocate and be in post by 31 March 2027.

The support is intended to help meet some of the costs involved in making a move to the South West, including eligible relocation-related expenses.

What does the transfer process involve?

The force has set out an eight-stage route for officers interested in transferring.

The process begins with an Expression of Interest, followed by an application pack and formal application.

Applicants are then invited to interview at Devon & Cornwall Police Headquarters at Middlemoor in Exeter.

Successful candidates receive a conditional offer before progressing through the required pre-employment checks.

Posting preferences are then discussed before a formal offer is made, and a joining date is agreed.

For serving officers, the process is designed to provide a clear route from initial interest through to joining the force.

Same skills, new setting

For Armed Response Officers who remain committed to specialist operational policing but are beginning to think differently about where they want to spend the next stage of their career, Devon and Cornwall offers an alternative.

The firearms deployments, operational responsibility and professional standards remain.

What changes is the setting and potentially the life built around the job.

Serving Armed Response Officers interested in transferring can view Devon & Cornwall Police’s current transferee opportunities and begin the Expression of Interest process through the force’s recruitment website.