Police Officer Job description:
As a serving police officer, you will have a large number of priorities to focus on. The key priorities include cutting crime, catching criminals, dealing with anti-social behavior, ensuring visible community policing is at the heart of everything you do, protecting the public from serious harm, providing a professional service by putting victims and witnesses first, meeting national commitments for policing, delivering value for money and also developing and supporting your workforce so they can do their job professionally and diligently. Throughout the selection process you will be assessed against the core competencies that are relevant to the role, and these include the following:
Q1. Tell me about yourself and what qualities you believe you have that will be relevant to the role of a police officer?
"To begin with, I am a hard-working, committed, and highly-motivated person who prides himself on the ability to continually learn and develop new skills. I currently work as a customer services manager for a transportation company. Prior to taking up this role approximately ten years ago, I spent five years working as a front-line soldier in the Army. In addition to being a family person, I also have my own hobbies and interests which include team sports such as football and also playing the guitar in a local band.
I am a loyal person who has a strong track record at work for being reliable, flexible and customer-focused. My annual appraisals are consistently to a high standard and I am always willing to learn new skills. Before applying for this job, I studied the role of a police officer and also the role of the police force in depth, to make sure I was able to meet the requirements of the role. Having been working for my current employer for almost ten years now, I wanted to make sure I had the potential to become a competent police officer before applying. Job stability is important to me and my family and, if successful, I plan to stay in the police force for many years.
Finally, the additional qualities I possess that I believe would benefit the role of a police officer include, being physically and mentally fit, organisationally and politically aware, determined, reliable, an excellent team player, organised, committed, capable of acting as a positive role model for the police force and being fully open to change."
Q2. What type of work do you think you will be undertaking as a police officer if you are successful?
Q3. Why have you applied to join the Police Service?
Q4. What are the things that you believe make a good Police Officer?
Q5. Tell me about a time when you have contributed to the effective working of a team.
Q6. Tell me about a time when you helped someone who was distressed or in need of support.
Q7. Can you give an example of when you have worked closely with an individual or group of people from a different background to yourself?
Q8. Describe a time when you have helped to support diversity in a team, school, college or organization.
Q9. Tell me about a time when you acted on your own initiative to solve a problem.
Q10. Can you give an example when you have responded to the changing needs of an individual or group of people?
Q11. Tell me about a time when you noticed a member of your team or group behaving in a manner that was inconsistent with the teams, groups, or organization's values.
Q12. Can you provide an example of when you have provided excellent service to an individual or group?
5 TIPS FOR PASSING THE POLICE OFFICER INTERVIEW!
TIP #1 - In the build-up to the police officer interview, be sure to study and learn the key core competencies that are being assessed.
TIP #2 - Be able to give specific examples of how you match the core competencies, including public service, service delivery, professionalism, working collaboratively, decision making, confidence and resilience, working with others etc. The police interview panel do not know you personally; therefore, it is vital you take the time to learn the core competencies and also be able to provide examples of how you match each and every one of them.
TIP #3 - Understand the needs of the local community, especially if you are attending a police officer final interview. For the police officer assessment centre interview, you will only be asked questions relating to the core competencies.
TIP #4 - When answering interview questions around the core competencies, give specific examples by utilising the STAR technique of SITUATION, TASK, ACTION and RESULT. This will ensure you give specific responses as opposed to generic ones.
TIP #5 - During the police interview, make sure you are able to demonstrate in your answers how important it is to uphold the police values and ethics whilst working as a police officer.
