The Police Application Thread

oneale90 said:
Hi Hilly.

Thanks for the responce, thats shone some light on the whole thing :). Regarding the role plays, what sort of questions did you ask? I know you have said the 5-W's but how did you put those questions across if that makes sence :S? Im going to get there early so will have a good hour or so to go through the compentancies.

Looks like i will have to go through the questions i wrote for my app form too !

Thanks for your advice and any future advice you have would be extremely helpful!

Thanks again

Josh
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hello Josh;

there are 4 roleplays, if you are at Royston it's based within 8 rooms. A bell goes and you go take a seat, inside that room will be some paper and a document. Read through the document and make notes (you can take notes in with you),

A buzzer goes to signal the end of the 5 minutes and you then have to wait outside the next room for 90 seconds, a bell will go and you walk into the room and face teh actor. Although they are not an actor in a strict sense of Shakespearian ways, they have key target lines which if you hit, you will get a response. If you are quiet for a long period they will just bow their head and a guy marking you (sat out of your vision behind you) will remind you that you have time left.

I walked in, shook the 'gentlemans' hand and introduced my self. I asked him "Mr X, can you please tell me what happened?". He replied, I asked then "What exactly did you do?". "Can you tell me who was involved?" "Why did you do what you did?" "When did all of this take place?" "And where did this happen?".

Judging by the responses you can then take these further. These are just your feeler type questions, you then have to take it further from your own back.

Be prepared for surprises within the Roleplay too, it's very good fun. Also, remember to conlude your dealings and ask if they are happy with this... For example:

Ok sir, judging by your actions on this date, what I will require is to get together with my manager and discuss further actions which we believe are appropiate. We will set up a meeting with your self at a later date. Is that ok with you sir?

and just carry on from there really.
 
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hilly said:
hello Josh;

snip/
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That was exactly the responce i was after, thanks you very much Hilly! I will be taking my assessment at the Birmingham Hq, but my guess is that these role plays are all in a way quite similar.

What sort of key responses should i look for? Does the actor (if triggerd) relay important info about the situation? Do you have to take notes of said important information or is it purely just to see if you can extract the information? I have a few key things i know i should drop in, such as thanking them for bringing the matter to my attentsion and "i will take persoanl responsibility"

Edit: Forgot to mention, We had a letter regarding swine flu, which states you are not to shake hands with anybody at the centre :( A good hand shake always seems a tad more proffesional Imo

Sorry for all the questions, tis just i really want this :)

Thanks a hell of a lot mate, thats put me at ease.

All the best with your app prosess :)

Thanks again buddy ;)
 
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oneale90 said:
That was exactly the responce i was after, thanks you very much Hilly! I will be taking my assessment at the Birmingham Hq, but my guess is that these role plays are all in a way quite similar.

What sort of key responses should i look for? Does the actor (if triggerd) relay important info about the situation? Do you have to take notes of said important information or is it purely just to see if you can extract the information? I have a few key things i know i should drop in, such as thanking them for bringing the matter to my attentsion and "i will take persoanl responsibility"

Edit: Forgot to mention, We had a letter regarding swine flu, which states you are not to shake hands with anybody at the centre :( A good hand shake always seems a tad more proffesional Imo

Sorry for all the questions, tis just i really want this :)

Thanks a hell of a lot mate, thats put me at ease.

All the best with your app prosess :)

Thanks again buddy ;)
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You're welcome Josh, no worries. If you need any more info add me to msn and I'll go through what happened and the types of stuff I was asked. should be in my profile / trust.

I believe the assessment centres aren't run by the services them selves but these are out sourced. Certainly the one which I was at (remember different forces so might be a bit different - same rules apply though) was outsourced to a company.

There isn't any specific key responses you should look for, you just have to play it by ear.

The notes which you can take before proceeding to the roleplay are for your benefit. These are not marked or scruitinized, they are basically for your eyes only. You do not have to take them if you don't want, you can just read the information. However I personally found it useful to take it in with me so I can refer to a few little things which I picked up whilst reading the brief.

A good strong handshake is professional yes, but if you are banned from doing this, then you won't be marked down for it!

Once you get past this stage you're basically in. You will have a physical (it's an assault course for West Mids) and a medical, drugs test etc but those should be fine. The assessment centre is really the last hurdle for you.

Oh couple of other things I've just remembered. Don't promise anything you can't follow up. For example if there is a question regarding CCTV, don't say "I will get my team instantly onto the CCTV cameras and get them moved" Or I will place a speed hump at this location asap... Because you just can't do that as a customer service op. What you can say is: I can bring this to the attention of my superiors and raise the possibility of placing, or moving said CCTV/Speed Hump to ensure the safety of our customers and staff... For example.

And if you can, quote the code of conduct which should come within your pack. There's lots of good information within the policeuk forums.

Let us know how you get on Josh;
 
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Burnsy2023 said:
It's most certainly force specific, hence why info here might not be useful to everyone.
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Absolutely, which is why on both my long posts above i did state that it might be different for different forces :)

However, the structure for Midlands and Mercia is pretty similar I believe.

Remember to show some empathy as well Josh... If something has been abused something along the lines of: I'm sorry to hear about <incident>, and that you personally take such matters of abuse very seriously. Remember it's about what you did, and what you can do. So don't use 'we, use I. I will take an action upon my self, or I will do this. Not we will.

Summarise, ask questions, conclude.
 
Hilly you have been a tremendous help! thank you so much. I know that it is force specific, but what you have told me will help, a lot ! Thanks for taking the time to give me some pointers and your advice.

I will most certainly let you know the outcome, at-least if i do fail ( i pray that i don't) i can re-sit 6 months down the line.

Thanks again.

Josh
 
Spikey said:
Does nayone know what type of shift patterns you get as a PSCO? Do they work late like the Police? I've heard you do 4 days in then 4 off, not sure how true that is, anyone in the know? Thanks.
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It will vary from force to force, but most have 'neighbourhood policing teams' comprising of PCs and PCSOs. Im WYP they do earlies (0700-1600) lates (1600-0000) and half nights (1700-0300), on a 7 on/4 off pattern.


Well done Burnsy :) (As phonemonkey says, enjoy the CS, make sure you take the mick out of the instructor beforehand! If it stings roub your eyes with some warm water)
 
Don't know if it's been mentioned in this thread already (not gonna bother trawling through the pages!) but the Met police have apparently got enough applicants to fill training places up to part way through 2011.
So if you're interested in working for the Met in London, you might have a bit of a wait.
 
gort said:
Don't know if it's been mentioned in this thread already (not gonna bother trawling through the pages!) but the Met police have apparently got enough applicants to fill training places up to part way through 2011.
So if you're interested in working for the Met in London, you might have a bit of a wait.
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I thought they wanted thousands extra for the Olympics?
 
Burnsy2023 said:
I thought they wanted thousands extra for the Olympics?
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Probably far easier and cheaper to draft in officers from other forces under the mutual aid agreement, certainly for specialists like firearms, PSU and CBRN. Quite a few people are hoping to get on that particular jaunt!
 
The other half is at the vetting stage with a start in the new year if all is clear.

I have a 3 year old caution for criminal damage for slapping a wing mirror of a car after the driver drove into my car and then me as i inspected the damage - no damage to me or my car but she claimed I broke her wing mirror, but anyway.... is this caution likely to affect her application do you think?

All the detail has been supplied with her app by the way.
 
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Defcon5 said:
Well done Burnsy :) (As phonemonkey says, enjoy the CS, make sure you take the mick out of the instructor beforehand! If it stings roub your eyes with some warm water)
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Well done indeed Burnsy but don't use warm water as it will increase the discomfort.

If it is CS, face into the wind and it will blow CS particles away although it takes time.
 
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