Civilian Drug Expert Witness - 01

Job Title: Civilian Drug Expert Witness - 01

Salary: The starting salary is £40,519, which includes allowances totalling £3,009.

The salary is broken down as £37,510 basic salary, which will increase annually until you reach the top of the scale £40,141. Plus, a location allowance of £2,009 and a non-pensionable allowance of £1,000.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Strategic Drugs Delivery Team within Specialist Crime of the Metropolitan Police.

We are looking for civilian drug expert witness to provide independent expert analysis and independent opinion on drugs-related evidence to support investigations and prosecutions and to deliver expert witness reports and testimony that enable courts to understand technical and evidential matters outside their experience.

Working for the Met doesn’t have to mean patrolling the streets. Just as important as our uniformed officers is our 14,000-strong team of professional and support staff working behind the scenes. It’s these skilled people who provide the organisational capability to police London.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Examine and analyse drugs-related evidenceand prepare impartial expert reports, enabling courts and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to understand and deal with issues requiring expert opinion within cases.
• Produce high quality expert witness reports for Crown Court cases (including Old Bailey), ensuring courts receive impartial opinion evidence.
• Provide expert testimony in courtacross England and Wales, presenting complex opinion evidence in a clear and impartial manner to assist judicial decision-making.
• Engage with investigators and CPS lawyersto agree terms of reference for expert evidence, ensuring reports address key evidential issues identified.
• Maintain independence and impartialityin line with Criminal Procedure Rules (Part 19) and Criminal Procedure Directions, ensuring reports withstand judicial and cross-examination scrutiny.
• Collaborate with colleagues and external expertsto produce joint expert reports when directed by the court or when otherwise needed.
• Manage personal workload and deadlines autonomously,prioritising tasks in line with court timetables and case requirements to avoid delays in proceedings.
• Support continuous improvementby contributing expertise to training, guidance and knowledge-sharing activities within the Drugs Delivery Team. Including MPS DEW foundation training.
• Quality assure/peer review the Drugs Expert Witness (DEW) reports of other experts from Basic Command Units (BCUs) and other Operational Command Units (OCUs) of the MPS maintaining consistency and evidential accuracy.
• Decline instructions when a case falls outside personal expertise, ensuring compliance with Criminal Procedure Rules, while fulfilling mandatory court taskings.

Who we're looking for:

• In-depth knowledge of drugs markets, trafficking methodologies and evidential interpretation in line with Criminal Procedure Rules.
• Understanding of relevant legislation (e.g. Misuse of Drugs Act, Police and Criminal Evidence Act, Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act).
• High-level analytical and report-writing skills to interpret evidence and present impartial findings.
• Strong verbal communication skills to present evidence clearly to courts and withstand cross-examination.
• Ability to prioritise competing case demands and meet strict deadlines set by the CPS and judiciary.
• Proven experience producing expert witness reports in drugs-related investigations, either in law enforcement or as an independent practitioner.
• Demonstrable record of presenting evidence in criminal courts.

Essential for this role:

• Must be a recognised practising expert witness in drugs trafficking and/or supply, established either through independent practice or previous recognition by the courts (e.g. a recently retired detective previously recognised as an expert witness).

You’ll also enjoy the kind of great benefits that you’d expect from one of London's largest employers.

These include;

• Annual leave entitlement of 28 days plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days after 5 years of service
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Membership of Met sports and social clubs
• Flexible working conditions and many more.

London is one of the most exciting and diverse cities in the world – and policing it is no easy task. It takes a huge number of people from all sorts of different backgrounds with a wide range of skills and experience. Do you have what it takes to be one of them? Find out if a career with the Met is what you’re looking for and what kind of challenges; experience and rewards you could have in store.

Closing date: In order to streamline our recruitment process, we reserve the right to expire vacancies prior to the advertised closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications.

This role does not attract Shift Disturbance Allowance. If you are currently in a shift-working role, SDA should cease upon appointment to this job.

Vetting

This post requires access to the most sensitive intelligence material on a daily basis. Applicants must hold or be prepared to undergo National Security Vetting (NSV) Security Check (SC) level before taking up the post.

Disability Confident Statement

The Met is committed to being an equitable (fair and impartial) and inclusive employer for disabled people, striving to have a diverse and representative workforce at all levels. We encourage applications from people from the widest possible range of backgrounds, cultures and experiences. We particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities and long-term conditions, ethnic minority groups and women.

As a Disability Confident Leader, the Met has committed to making disability equality part of our everyday practice. We ensure that people with disabilities and those with long term conditions have the opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations.

The Met is committed to making reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process to ensure disabled applicants can perform at their best. If you need any reasonable adjustments or changes to the application and recruitment process, we ask that you include this information within your application form. All matters will be treated in strict confidence.

Please note, if you are applying for a police officer role or to become a police community support officer (PCSO) or designated detention officer (DDO), there is a minimum requirement that you must pass a job-related fitness test (JRFT) at point of entry. This does not apply to police staff roles. Find out more about police fitness standards.

Read our full disability confidence statement.

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