Steve Chan
Police Constable Steve Chan studied business management and accounting at college and worked in sales before making the decision to become a police officer.
Why did you want to become a police officer?
Two reasons why I wanted to become a police officer: first of all, growing up I never saw any form of representation of Chinese officers in this country.
I felt that I could make a change and hopefully inspire and change that for generations after me. Secondly I wanted something that was secure, a job and a career that was secure for both myself and my family and friends.
Becoming a police officer is something I’ve always harboured or wanted to do, and recently in the past few years is something I focus on a lot.
What’s your current role?
I’m a police constable within response policing. As part of that role I patrol the streets in my area, and when a member of the public contacts Police Scotland, that particular call will be allocated to myself or my colleagues to go and help.
In your opinion, what makes a good police officer?
What I think, making a good police officer, is being you. That’s what makes Police Scotland, that’s what makes you a good police officer, what you bring as a person, life experience, life skills, qualifications.
Every police officer is going to be different, just as the community we help are all different. And being you, will make you the best officer you can be.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
What I enjoy most about the job is coming in and every day is going to be different. No two days are ever the same. The people I work with are fantastic. They support you, they challenge you, they push you and you do the same for them.
What’s the toughest thing about being a police officer?
The toughest part of being a police officer is managing everything at once. Very easily and very quickly, things can get on top of you; the calls you go out to, the people you deal with, management of your time can very quickly go by you, so being on top of everything and making sure you are on top of your game to help the people that are calling you when they’re in crisis, is something very hard to manage.
The best part about being a team and being part of a police family is the support that you get, in every aspect, and the knowledge that you will support them, no matter what.
We deal with trauma and crisis, highs and lows, day in, day out for a long, long time. It’s a long career, so with the right team around you, anything’s possible and nothing is too much.
Do you have any career highlights?
The highlight of my career to date is when I detected and apprehended someone that was wanted for murder. I got to the flat in question, and looked inside a peep hole, and saw two people, one of which I recognised to be the person we were looking for. When I knocked on the door that person decided to run into one of the rooms and hide.
When the other person answered the door, I told them I could see someone else and asked them to show me where they were. They refused to tell me where that person was, so then I carried out a search of the house. In the far away bedroom, hiding behind a wall was the very person I was looking for. Speaking directly and authoritatively to that person, I told them to come out slowly, with their hands showing. That person then went to jail.
What’s next for you in policing?
In terms of my career and where I want to take it, I’m still very young in service, I’m very happy to remain a response police officer. I feel like I can still make a big difference. In the medium future I want to inspire and grow an ethnic diversity within Police Scotland. I think there is a big scope for that, and by being on the street, by being visible, I can be that representation that wasn’t there when I was a child.
In terms of specialisms, I would very much like to move into CID and more serious crimes, in the long term future but I’d like to keep my options open. It’s a big career and there is a wide variety of options open to you.
Your role involves working closely with members of the public, tell us about that?
The best thing about working with the public is all the characters you get to meet. No one person is ever the same and no conversation is ever the same.
Everyone is different and you will learn something from everyone that you meet and it’s important that you take lessons from everyone that you deal with. It will make you a better person.
What would you say to someone considering a career as a police officer?
What I would say to someone who’s thinking about a career in Police Scotland is: don’t hesitate, don’t think, just do it. It’s a career that will give you everything you’ve ever wanted, everything you didn’t know you needed and at the end, you’ll look back and I guarantee you’ll be proud.
