Rosie @ South Yorkshire Police

Weeks one and two

In my first week of interning with South Yorkshire Police, I felt a mixture of emotions, including nervousness but also excitement to begin an experience in a role that I had never worked in before or even closely encountered in other jobs previously.

I began the week being shown around South Yorkshire Police HQ, where I would be spending the next six weeks analysing and visualising data, using RStudio to provide an alternative insight to the data collection. My line manager showed me where each department was placed and briefly described to me what their role is within the organisation. I was then briefed on all health and safety requirements and we discussed the objectives of the internship in the short term and long term for both myself and the organisation.

My first couple of days consisted of me having short meetings with most of the individuals working in the Business Change and Innovation department where I was working, to get to know them as individuals as well as understand what their role is within the organisation. This was really interesting as someone new coming into the organisation, particularly learning about how important every role is to changing the business to be more efficient, as well as being shown what types of software is used, and what types of data are being handled.

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My first two weeks were insightful, exciting and engaging"

Rosie

South Yorkshire Police intern

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I spent the next week developing a presentation that I would present to both the team I was working for and others who were interested. RStudio is a software that is new to South Yorkshire Police, and with the skills I have developed from university handling data in RStudio, they were really interested to know both what I can do in the software and also what the potential possibilities are in using RStudio alongside or in replacement of other alternative software. Within the presentation, I used a PowerPoint slide presentation and demoed RStudio to show examples of how to use code, as well as showing what data visuals are able to be produced, and answered any questions the audience had. Following on from the presentation, once the team knew the range of skills I had they were able to give me different tasks to complete, including visualising complex data, regression models and other calculations.

Overall, in three words my first two weeks were insightful, exciting and engaging, I was able to practice a range of skills including analysis, using RStudio and my presentation skills – I look forward to continuing my internship over the next few weeks!

Weeks three and four

Entering the next two weeks of my 6-week placement at South Yorkshire Police marked the midpoint of the internship. In this period, I have predominantly spent time performing pieces of analysis in RStudio that my colleagues asked me to complete, including analysis that have helped as part of projects they are working on.

Over this time, I have also been required to use Excel, a program I was already slightly familiar with but the extent of my usage of the software before the internship was not much more than using it to download datasets online and converting them to CSV files. The past two weeks at South Yorkshire Police has required me to develop my knowledge of Excel, including performing calculations and using filters to observe values in the datasets, which are particularly large compared to any data I have previously handled. Using large and current datasets has given me a huge insight into the power of data analysis, and I know these skills will be useful for future work at university and beyond, as Excel and RStudio are two programs that work well together to perform analysis.

The latter half of these two weeks I have spent preparing for a second presentation, that this time, will be based on the work I have been completing for the organisation, including analysis and visuals that I will present at some point in the final two weeks. As this presentation is for senior members of staff, who aren’t necessarily familiar with the datasets themselves, or the statistical jargon used, it was important in the planning of the presentation to understand ‘what does this mean for SYP?’ when analysing the data and drawing conclusions, and not just stating the statistics as they’re provided in R. This means thinking about future trends and requirements that SYP can prepare for, and providing new information that hasn’t already been uncovered.

Weeks five and six

As my final two weeks at South Yorkshire Police have come to a close, I reflect on all of the experiences I have had and how much I have learnt in this truly interesting and insightful experience.

Not only have I practiced and developed my data analysis skills hugely every day for the past six weeks, I have also learnt what it’s like to work for such a large organisation and learnt how integral the organisation is to South Yorkshire, and how every individual’s job plays an important role in the functioning of the organisation. As well as this I have got to know so many interesting and friendly people, who welcomed me into the office and have supported me throughout my entire experience here, which I am extremely grateful for.

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This was truly one of the most eye opening experiences of my life.

Rosie

South Yorkshire Police intern

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In the last two weeks of my internship, I have showcased my second presentation regarding the pieces of analysis I have performed over the past few weeks at SYP. This presentation was for multiple members of staff within my department, including the Director of the department, as well as one of the Assistant Chief Constables. It was a real honour to know that such senior members of staff were interested in the work I was doing. Upon performing the presentation, I could really see how my presentation and analysis skills had developed from previously, which was great to notice.

I also got the chance to visit Atlas Court, and listen to some live 999 and 101 calls, as well as observe someone working in dispatch. This was truly one of the most eye opening experiences of my life, hearing real people’s voices and understanding where all of the data I was using came from and gave the data so much context and meaning.

Overall I can say that working for South Yorkshire Police has been a tremendous experience for me, in terms of developing my understanding of the importance of the Police Force and developing my own personal skills that will aid me at University and beyond. I can’t thank the SMI and SYP enough for allowing me to be able to have this opportunity.