The Police Application Thread

Good luck to all you guys applying and hope it all goes well, i could see it as a very interesting and rewarding job (my old fella was a copper for 33yrs, and my great grandad was in the RCMP). I tried many moons ago and aced pretty much every physical test (top of the bleep test etc) and mental one, interviews etc. Got to the point where i was pretty much accepted when they realised they hadn't ticked a box by seeing my medical record, they got it and saw i had bronchitas as a 5yr old kid and promptly kicked me out the door! :(
 
So, I passed :cool:

Bit harder than I thought It would be though. The physical was really easy, not an issue, however the written test was a lot more stressful.

There were three parts, the numerical test - questions weren't hard but the time limit made it a totally different game. You had on average 30sec per question and doing long division in that time only works if you don't make sully mistakes.

The second part was logical reasoning. You have a statement and some accompanying facts. You must then say whether the four following statements are true, false or it's impossible to say. This, so I thought would be quite straight forward until I got half the practice questions wrong. You really do need to concentrate, not easy with a tight deadline again.

The final part was summarising two witness statement. Not hard but it's weird using a 'pen' to write things again. :p

Interview is July 1st :)
 
The PIRT is designed to see how you time manage.

There are a lot of questions but they do not neccessarily go up in difficulty. You will come across ones thatt you can rattle off in your head and write down but there are some that require a lot more thought and some will naturally try and work it out.

Thye next question and several after that may be easier but some will stick with the more difficult one and use time to work through it when they could be polughing thorugh the rest of the questions.

If you are stuck or a question needs considerable attention to detail during a timed test, make a brief note of the no and move on.

The above is how I slipped up on my first application.
 
I'm quite surprised you had a Physical?. They normally do PIRT > Interview > More Security > Physical/Medical/Drug Screen > Training.

It does differ through different forces though.
 
Hi all, quick question for those who are serving.
The job is clearly not 9-5, but what are your typical shift patterns? Has this negatively impacted on your homelife (assuming you have a family) particularly if you were working fixed hours before?

Also, if applying, at what stage can you express an interest in one of the specialist areas such as firearms or traffic? Is it the case that you do the duties of basic constable until you are picked up by one of these teams?
 
emailiscrap said:
Hi all, quick question for those who are serving.
The job is clearly not 9-5, but what are your typical shift patterns? Has this negatively impacted on your homelife (assuming you have a family) particularly if you were working fixed hours before?
Click to expand...

Hi guys, long time lurker here...

I serve in the Met in a South London borough and we work a 5 week shift pattern that is a mixture of 9 or10 hour early, late and night shifts. I'm married but don't have any kids and I find I still manage to see my wife more than enough! I'd be lying if I said it didn't affect my social life though - I only get two weekends off out of five (the rest of my rest days being weekdays) and I find it really hard to see friends/family. It's also not uncommon for your weekends to be cancelled and be sent on aid (typically football matches).

Also, if applying, at what stage can you express an interest in one of the specialist areas such as firearms or traffic? Is it the case that you do the duties of basic constable until you are picked up by one of these teams?
Click to expand...

In the Met once you've completed two years probation (thats from the moment you join so includes your however many weeks training it is now) you can apply for other roles. It's usually best to stay on response teams for a bit longer though and get some more experience under your belt. I assume its the same or similar with other Forces.
 
emailiscrap said:
Hi all, quick question for those who are serving.
The job is clearly not 9-5, but what are your typical shift patterns? Has this negatively impacted on your homelife (assuming you have a family) particularly if you were working fixed hours before?

Also, if applying, at what stage can you express an interest in one of the specialist areas such as firearms or traffic? Is it the case that you do the duties of basic constable until you are picked up by one of these teams?
Click to expand...

I currently live myself so can’t really talk too much about home life but as for my social life it has affected the shifts do affect it. Like links81 I only get 2 weekends out of every 5 off and as most of my mates have mon-fri 9-5 jobs it can be hard getting nights out arranged sometimes. One way round this is to claim for time of in lieu for some of the overtime you do, save some hours up and that way whenever you need some time off you can generally get it. I always try to keep about 10 hours in my bank, and trust me you will get A LOT of overtime.

As for the specialised roles you will be looking at around 3-4 years service at least.
 
Well I got the news yesterday that i start training with Merseyside on June 29th.

I've been a special for quite a while before and I can't wait to begin the job that in all honesty, I think I've wanted to do for a very long time. It's just taken a while for me to get off my bum and do it! Not looking forward to the drop in pay in the short term, but in the long term I know its the right decision!

Tom / Burnsy - keep up with ps.com and hopefully see you over there again soon! The best of luck!

Tom

ps.. as an aside I applied to Merseyside Specials in August and was attested in January.
 
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