Join as a police officer

You’ve completed your application form to join our force and made it through the initial sift - well done. So, what happens next? You'll get an email inviting you to undertake the online assessment process. The online assessment process involves a series of exercises that test you on the key values and competencies that are important for police officers. Here is a breakdown of the online assessment process:

Exercise 1: The Situational Judgement Test

Exercise 2: The Competency-Based Video Interview

Exercise 3: The Written Exercise

Exercise 4: The Briefing Exercise

Let's take a closer look at each stage.

Exercise 1: The Situational Judgement Test or SJT. The SJT measures your ability to choose the appropriate actions in situations you’re likely to face as a police officer. Your choices will be judged against the Competency and Values Framework or CVF. Here’s what to expect. You’ll be given 12 questions to answer, each with four options. You choose the response you think is best for the situation. It should take around 30 minutes to complete but you’ll have two hours.

Exercise 2: The Competency-Based Interview. You’ll be assessed on the following competencies and values from the CVF: integrity, public service, transparency, we take ownership, we are innovative and open-minded. Here's what to expect. You’ll be asked five questions on how you’ve dealt with specific situations in the past. You’ll give examples from your work or personal life that show you have the values and competencies we’re looking for. You’ll have one minute to consider the question and prepare your answer, five minutes to record your answer to each question and 40 minutes to complete the interview.

Exercise 3: The Written Exercise. You’ll be assessed on the following competencies and values from the CVF: impartiality, we analyse critically, we deliver, support and inspire, we are collaborative. Here’s what to expect. You’ll assume the role of a police officer and must complete an urgent written task for your line manager. You’ll be given four items of information to help you with this task. It should take 40 minutes to complete but you’ll have up to two hours. 

Exercise 4: The Briefing Exercise. You’ll be assessed on the following competencies and values from the CVF: public service, we are emotionally aware, we take ownership, we are innovative and open-minded. Here’s what to expect. You’ll assume the role of a police officer and you will have responsibility for dealing with some issues presented to you. You’ll be tasked with giving a verbal response to several questions related to the issue. You’ll be given some materials to help you consider and prepare your answer. It should take approximately 60 minutes to complete.

Preparation is key. To make sure you perform at your very best, read the candidate guidance documents carefully, read and understand the Competency and Values Framework. This is what you’re being marked against. Start thinking now about examples from your personal or work life that show you share the values and competencies needed to be an outstanding police officer. Want to start preparing now? Search online assessment process on www.college.police.uk.

Once you pass the online assessment, the next step to becoming a police officer is the fitness test. It's simply to test you’ve got the basic level of fitness needed to be a police officer, not an Olympic athlete. It involves a multi-stage run known as the bleep test. It takes 3 minutes and 35 seconds and is made up of 35 15-metre shuttle runs between two points. You’ll hear a bleep at set intervals. You need to reach the other side before the next bleep. The bleeps speed up during the test. Your running speed will start at 7.9 kilometres per hour and will increase to 9.9 kilometres per hour, which means you’ll end up running the 15-metre stretch in five to six seconds by the end of the test.

Think you’re not fit enough? Don’t worry, it’s not super hard. As long as you’re reasonably fit and do some training in advance, you should be absolutely fine. Let’s take a look at the best way to train.

Focus on exercise activities that increase your cardiovascular fitness, for example running. Regular runs build up your heart and lung capacity and your leg muscles. Try a mix of interval training and steady running. With interval training, warm up for five minutes, followed by 30 seconds hard sprint, then 30 seconds of walking. Do this ten times, then cool down. Interval training simulates what your body will go through in the bleep test. With steady running, warm up for five minutes followed by running at a steady pace for a few minutes, eventually building up to around 15 minutes, then cool down. It’s good to include some 180-degree turns, that’s where you pivot and run the other way.  That’s because you’ll be running back and forth between two points in the bleep test rather than in a straight line. And you can mix up running with other aerobic exercise like swimming, rowing, cycling and cross trainer. These all use large muscle groups and are great for building up your heart and lung capacity but as the test is running based, make sure you’re building up your leg muscles. Running really should make up the bulk of your training.

Here's some of our top training tips: don't start training the week before the test, start training at least six weeks before. Not a regular exerciser? Seek medical advice before starting your training. Start slowly and build up the length and intensity of your training sessions. Always warm up and cool down properly. Remember to stretch and build in toning and strengthening exercises. They’ll really help increase your overall fitness. Record your progress. Seeing your fitness improve will help keep you motivated. Don’t forget to keep your fluid levels up as you train. Why not train with friends? It's safer and more enjoyable. And don’t overdo it. Give yourself rest days to recover.

Looking for some extra support? Here are some handy training resources. Search fifteen metre bleep test on iTunes, Google Play, and YouTube, and try the NHS Couch to 5k app.

Remember you don’t need to be superhuman to pass the fitness test. Follow our training tips and you should be able to pass no problem. Best of luck.

Getting to the vetting stage of the recruitment process is a huge achievement, so well done. You’re just one step away from becoming a police officer. You now need to pass the vetting stage of the recruitment process. It's a very thorough process involving detailed background checks, plus fingerprinting and DNA checks with your consent. Why is it necessary? It’s because police officers are in a position of trust, so we need police officers who are 100% honest and trustworthy with the highest levels of integrity, who aren’t vulnerable to blackmail or corruption.

So, what’s involved in vetting?

We’ll ask you about your previous names and any aliases that you’ve used, and your address history for the last five years. Why? We need to confirm your identity and eligibility to work in the UK.

We’ll also ask you about your finances. We’ll ask how you describe your overall financial situation, whether you own or rent your home and details of your mortgage, if you have one, your monthly income and expenditure, whether you have any savings and borrowings, whether you are or have ever been declared bankrupt, or had a county court judgement against you, and we’ll ask if you’ve had any secondary employment or business interests. Why? We need to assess how vulnerable you could be to bribery or corruption. It’s important to note that we don’t base our assessment on the amount of debt you might have, we’re assessing your ability to manage it well.

We’ll also ask you about your family and friends.  We’ll ask you about your partner and their address history for the last five years, your parents and your partners’ parents, your full, half, and step-siblings, your children if they’re over ten years of age, and we’ll ask about all co-residents at your current address, like lodgers or other family members. Why? We need to assess whether they have any criminal convictions and, if so, whether you could be vulnerable to corruption or coercion.

We’ll ask you about all your previous contact with the police, if you have any cautions or convictions, or if you have been issued with a fixed penalty notice, if you’ve ever been arrested, if you’ve ever been involved in an investigation, your traffic offences excluding parking, or if you have any criminal associates and, if so, their details. Why? We need to consider your credibility and whether there’s a potential for information to be leaked or for you to be put under pressure by associates.

So, what are the most common errors on the vetting forms? Failing to provide your full address history, failing to list all family members, for example step-parents, step-siblings and half siblings, failing to include details of your partner, whether you live together or apart, failing to declare cautions, convictions and any previous contact with the police. It’s good to assume all previous contact will be on our system. If you don’t declare it, it raises questions around your honesty and integrity.

Here are two key things to get right: always be 100% honest and if you’re unsure about whether to declare something, it’s best to declare it. Your honesty will be valued, and we’ll be able to help you through the vetting process. And that’s it. We hope that’s helped you prepare for the vetting stage of your application process. Best of luck.

All police officers need to be fit and healthy so they can meet the demands of a rewarding but challenging job. Once you pass the online assessment process, you'll take the fitness test, and you'll undergo a medical assessment.

So, what's involved?

You'll complete a confidential health declaration. We also need to check your hearing, eyesight, height, weight, and Body Mass Index, blood pressure, lung capacity, and urine.

So, let's see how to give yourself the best chance of passing the medical assessment.

Hearing. You need to be able to hear your colleagues and members of the public and hear what's being said on your radio even when it's really noisy. Here are our top tips. Protect your ears from too much noise for two days before the medical. Avoid working with power tools, riding motorbikes and noisy clubs or gigs. And make sure your ears are clear of wax. If you do have any hearing issues, that doesn't mean you can't pass, you might just need a specialist review.

Eyesight. You need eyesight that's good enough to be able to defend yourself in a tight situation even if you lose your glasses or lenses. Here are our top tips. You need to be able to meet this standard [6/36 standard] without glasses or lenses using both eyes together. Do you wear contact lenses? Bring solution and containers as you'll be tested without them. If you do have any sight issues, that doesn't mean you can't pass. For example, if you're colour-blind you can still apply, you just might not be eligible for some specialist roles after your probationary period. Or if you've had laser eye surgery just wait six weeks before the eye test.

If you're overweight you'll find it harder to pass the fitness test and cope with patrols. If you're underweight you could lack the muscle bulk you need to pass the fitness test and cope with the demands of the job. Here are our top tips. Eat healthily, and exercise regularly and aim for a body mass index between 18 and 30. Not sure how to calculate your BMI? Search 'NHS BMI calculator'.

Smokers are more likely to have heart and lung problems which make it difficult to pass the fitness test. Here are our top tips. Try to quit smoking as soon as possible and, at the very least, cut down how much you smoke. Want some extra support? Search 'NHS smokefree' for help to quit.

Drinking too much can cause high blood pressure. Over time, your arteries are more likely to get clogged up and your heart could be weakened. Here are our top tips.  Don't drink more than two units of alcohol per day or 14 units per week spread over three to four days.

Taking drugs such as cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine is illegal, and as a police officer you must uphold the law. That's why you'll be tested for drugs as part of the medical test. Here's our top tip. Never take illegal drugs.

Do you have any existing health conditions? Don't worry, it doesn't mean you can't become a police officer. For example, if you have asthma. If it's well controlled with inhalers, that's fine.

Diabetes. Your treatment should give you good blood sugar control and be able to adapt to the demands of the job, for example variable meal patterns due to working shifts.

Epilepsy. Ideally you won't have experienced a seizure for at least 18 months, either on or off medication.

Stress, anxiety, or depression. Ideally, you'll have been well without medication for at least six months before applying as you'll need to be able to cope with the demands of a public facing, frontline job.

Dyslexia. If you have a report confirming your condition, we'll take that into account during the recruitment process and make reasonable adjustments if necessary. You'll be supported during training and your career.

Asperger's and autism. Again, a report confirming your condition will help us understand whether we need to make reasonable adjustments for you during the recruitment process and throughout your police career.

Here are our top tips. Maintain a good attendance record in your current job. Bring a copy of your medical records or a note from your doctor with you to your medical. Be 100% honest and declare any existing conditions. It will help us decide whether you need further assessment or reasonable adjustments to help you perform at your best. It'll also demonstrate your honesty and integrity.

And that's it. We hope that's helped prepare you for your medical assessment. Best of luck!