I came to the UK in 2006 from my home country of Hungary. It was meant to be a year or so to perfect my English, turned into 19years and still counting. The reason I stayed so long is all the opportunities I suddenly found that were not readily available back home. I liked the standards of life I could afford with the lowest paying jobs at the time. I did not have many Hungarian friends and no family in London. I had my education in Hungary and I had an international English language certificate, but I very soon realised I could not understand anything around me in London and was determined to learn and speak much better English. It so happened the first very few years I was learning it mostly from books (ironically it was and still is Sephen King I read mostly, who is American) and other foreigners in London, who I worked with and made lifelong friends with.

I have lived all my adult live in London. I have progressed my professional life around my attributes, I always enjoyed interacting with people and I had exceptional work ethics. I worked hard, a lot and I always thrived to do the best I could. I also always had this idea that as a foreigner in this country you just had to work harder and twice as much to make sure you are worthy and valued. I am still a work in progress. I am not the most confident person and I can’t help but at times still feel I am in lower regard than people born in this country.

How I ended up with the MET? I realised the corporate world was not for me. Throughout all my jobs and companies I worked for, I had amazing relationship with my colleagues, bosses and with clients, but I wasn’t the best at sales, where I mostly worked. I always thought it was because I was too honest and I wanted to be treating people like my family and friends, it just didn’t go hand in hand with generating maximum profit.

I just wanted to do something I felt happy to do, that I liked to do, and would be proud to do. I wanted a change. I knew I needed to something that involved talking to people, ideally helping people on a daily basis and that was not corporate. My first thought was maybe I can be a receptionist in a hospital or work for some non-profit organisation. I got on a tube at Oxford Circus where I worked to get home to Woodside Park and there it was. The advertisement to join the police. I figured I am far too old to be a police officer and most likely not athletic enough either. But there I was thinking maybe they have a role that involves talking rather than running. Perhaps I can do some paperwork at a Police Station.

I found the Communications Officer advertisement very fast that afternoon in my living room. I remember feeling very doubtful. Why would they would want me, a foreigner, not even a British national, only a European citizen with a settlement status? First I was just looking to see if I was even eligible to apply. But as I was reading and re-reading the advertisement, I kept thinking it was written up on the website as if it was tailor-made for me. Everything they required from the candidates I felt were my strongest assets and attributes. I have had many doubts about getting the job throughout the whole application process, but then soon my friends and family got behind me on my quest. I studied, and I genuinely mean it when I say, I put a tremendous amount of work into my recruitment stages. I was thrilled and overjoyed to pass stage after stage. By the time I first came to the Hendon centre for my final assessment day I was entirely sure and convinced I wanted this job, to the point that I knew if I fail I will re-apply the earliest opportunity. I made sure I told this to the interviewers even. I wanted them to know exactly where I stood with this. I genuinely wanted to be a 999 and 101 phone operator. Not for the money, not for the benefits, it was quite the opposite, it was a pay cut for me compared to my previous corporate job, but I wanted this job for myself because I was sure I could be good at it and I can make a difference to someone on the other and of the phone. Long story short, I got it.

I was the only foreigner on that day in Hendon, I was also the only foreigner in classroom training and for a long time have not met anyone else who would do the job with English being their second language, not their mother tongue. I also remember when a friend asked me after if thought they had a diversity quota to meet. It never crossed my mind.

I remember my first conversation with my line manager when she asked how did I feel during my training, I said I was worried my English was not good enough that I won’t understand people and they will get upset with me. I can understand English and I can write in English but unless English is not your first language, it is hard to explain, but I believe there is (what I call a buffering time) a split second where you are still processing information you hear before the words come to you to type it down.  I was not fast and I still don’t consider myself particularly fast. But I definitely got better with time.

I was not aware of the police not being held in high esteem, I have not had dealings with the police before joining and back home I feel I was only taught to respect authority. So to receive anything less than respect over the phone did not even cross my mind. I was terrified when I found out there are a lot of people out there, who will not show love and support to police. Then again I was oblivious to the failings of the police back then. I am not going to lie, I was very worried when we came to the live floor for coaching. It was however a lot easier than I thought. In my 5 years it was only a handful of times that I got abused for being a foreigner. I was prepared for it to happen on a regular basis. Contrary to that I have done just as I set out to do, helped people on the phones. I am a dispatcher now, I work with officers on the radio, not quite the same as being a first contact operator. While I like my current role, the larger part of my heart still belongs to First Contact. I still enjoy coming back to the phones. All the change we want to see in the world, I feel First Contact is the perfect platform to make that change. I always loved and thrived to change the tone of an upset caller, to my experience I have managed to do so more often than not.

Of course I started out feeling uneasy and nervous, undeniably struggled in the beginning, I was not at all up to date in street slang in English, and not even going to get started with all the unpronounceable street names. I am still learning new phrases every day. But working in my second language also had its benefits. I find it easier to understand some of the “broken” English having been there myself.

Having English as my second language and working for the Police is something I am immensely proud of. So is my family and all of my friends. I never considered being bilingual as an asset. It is hugely thanks to my line manager that I realised it is worth mentioning. She made sure to remind me of it every opportunity she had. I am proud to be part of the MET and to have had nothing but support from the organisation and my colleagues. I am glad that my accent brings smiles to their faces and when it comes to my English I will always be the first to exploit my shortcomings for a laugh.