Military I think is 5 GCSE A*-C (English+Maths) and 2 A-Levels. After you've served in the military for a certain number of years you can then leave and join a civilian helicopter company that provides helicopters to the police. You could always go down the civilian route in which case you'd need to have A-Level standard qualifications to become a commercial helicopter pilot (don't know why) so I'd imagine good all round GCSE's and A-Levels. If you're focused on just flying for the police, you need to gain helicopter experience which can be done in the military or civilian e.g. Flying to offshore oilrigs, once you've built up your hours and have the necessary flying experience for example a certain amount of hours low-level, poor weather, night flying, then you can apply. I'd advise to go military as they pay for all your training but you could always get sent to fight abroad, nothing wrong with that, but thats a possibility. Police Officers don't need qualifications but have to be confident in communication. Some forces offer police officers the chance to become observers in their air support units. I doubt they train police officers to become pilots.