Graeme Bettley

Years of service: 14

Detective Constable, Graeme Bettley joined the police after finishing secondary school. He was initially a police cadet and joined the police service shortly after as a constable. DC Bettley currently works in the Major Investigations Teams (MITs).

What made you want to join the police?

When I began looking into applying what became clear to me was that I was joining a stable, secure and lifelong career. This was a huge influence in applying and even now I look at friends and family who are in careers that they enjoy and are also excellent jobs, but often they can lack the security that a job as a police officer does.

Becoming a police cadet* and having exposure to the police service before becoming a constable confirmed that this was the job for me. There is no doubt in my mind that I made the right decision joining. A career in the police is varied, with an abundance of opportunity. I really enjoy it.

* The police cadet programme no longer runs. Instead, this has been replaced with the Police Scotland Youth Volunteers (PSYV).

What is your current role?

I am currently a detective constable based within the Major Investigations Teams (MITs). In MITs, we deal solely with major and often complex serious crime enquiries, which includes murder enquiries.

What’s it like to spend a day doing your job?

In my role in MITs, no two days are ever the same. One day I might be noting detailed statements from significant witnesses or interviewing persons suspected of committing serious crimes. I could also be supporting families through a murder investigation as a family liaison officer.

Depending on the type of enquiry I might need to put on protective equipment to enter a crime scene. It’s my role to assist crime scene managers and functional experts from across a number of scientific disciplines to assess, interpret and secure critical evidence relating to that crime.

As part of the criminal justice process, there are times that I will be applying to the Procurator Fiscal for search warrants or attending to give evidence in The High Court.

What is your favourite part of your role?

The first few days of any new murder enquiry is certainly the busiest part of the investigation. Seeing first hand those wheels in motion as we launch a new murder enquiry is a real privilege to witness and be part of.

The rush to trace important witnesses, the need to identify suspects and to get the answers for those families affected by the crime under investigation.

Is being a detective anything like you see in the films and TV?

No, our enquiries take a lot longer than an hour to solve, and there certainly isn’t enough time in the first few days of a murder enquiry to take three advert breaks.

Also the evidence doesn’t always appear right on cue either unfortunately!

What has been the highlight of your career been so far?

There’s been many and it’s difficult to pinpoint only one highlight. One highlight would certainly be being part of the team responsible for investigating the murder of Julie Reilly in Govan in 2018. I performed a key role in this enquiry, and worked on the enquiry from the beginning until conviction nearly 14 months later.

I was proud of the work collectively completed by all involved in this enquiry and I was pleased that for Julie’s family we were able to bring the accused to justice, and return Julie to her family for her funeral to take place. The enquiry also featured as part of the Murder Case documentary series on the BBC.

Being part of that documentary and giving an insight to my family and friends of my day to day role also made me proud.

How do you cope with the job?

It’s important to separate your work with your personal life. I also believe it’s important to try, where you can, to have fun at work, and we do manage that all things considered.

I do also believe that I am a naturally resilient person but knowing your limits, strengths and weaknesses is hugely important to being able to continue to cope with a job like this.

I am also lucky to have plenty of other distractions out with work with my family at home, and a great extended network of family and friends.

You have a number of specialisms from your career with the police, can you tell us about them?

I am a trained family liaison officer, which involves supporting a family bereaved through crime, normally murder, throughout an investigation.

This would include noting all the statements from family members, gathering lots of victimology information about the victim and feeding this into the enquiry. It also includes ensuring families are supported by partner agencies.

I find this role really rewarding, and it really requires a strong degree of emotional intelligence and empathy.

I am a hostage and crisis negotiator. The role involves being on call and able to instantly deploy to ongoing incidents. The deployment will often involve suicide intervention, high risk missing persons, aieges (sometimes involving hostages), and firearm operations.

I am also trained in disaster victim identification, and thankfully this isn’t a specialism which is required often.

Being trained in this specialism is part of Police Scotland’s requirement to be prepared for the worst case scenario type incidents. This role would involve me being able to assist in the repatriation of loved ones to their families in the event of their death as a result of a mass fatality incident.

How have you been supported during your development in policing?

I’ve been really well supported throughout my career, regardless of the department or role I was in at that particular time.

Whether that be lateral development within my current role to obtain courses and different skills or specialisms, or alternatively when I decided to apply for promotion. Support comes in lots of different forms whether that’s peer support from colleagues or from your line management.

What would you say to someone looking to become a police officer?

I would encourage those to do their research and to be certain it’s the career for them. I love the job, and I would never put any one off applying to become a police officer.

It’s a career with lots of prospects and one that is, for the most part, very satisfying and rewarding.