How to join the police with Police Now

Our competencies

We take ownership

You will be a credible authority, instilling confidence and trust in others through the quality of your knowledge, skills, presence and professionalism. You will show substantial resilience, working well under pressure in the face of change, with a determined and positive attitude to overcoming obstacles. You need to be able to bounce back quickly from difficult situations and setbacks. These may come from the public and the incidents you deal with but also internally e.g. resistance to change. You need to be persistent and stay focused on the outcomes you need to achieve. Going into the force as a detective you enter as a member of staff who will be relied on to make decisions and provide guidance. However, this needs to be balanced with humility and a willing to learn and act on feedback.

We are emotionally aware

You will be an empathic connector. You will be able to develop meaningful relationships with an extensive variety of people, allowing you to communicate and persuade effectively. You must be able to demonstrate a genuine interest in, and respect for other people’s opinions. Self-awareness and high levels of emotional control are also required to handle emotionally charged situations. Detectives work on extremely emotive cases, including crimes involving child abuse, human trafficking and serious assault.

We are collaborative

You will be a clear communicator, with an exemplary clear and effective style of communication, both verbal and written. This highly attentive attention to detail in communication is critical to several elements of the role including gathering statements, writing crime reports and preparing handover information. You need to be able to present the outputs of your analysis in a clear, thorough and often persuasive way to a wide range of collaborators and stakeholders. You will have to work with different partners and agencies to solve problems, including social services and local authorities.

We seek feedback, learn from our mistakes and reflect to improve and amend our future practices.

We deliver, support and inspire

You will be organised, manage your time highly effectively and deliver in all situations. You will be making a sustainable impact, leaving things better than you found them. You will be able to prove your ability to deliver results, often outside your comfort zone – you push yourself hard, using your initiative to get positive results. You have to assess risks quickly and effectively, using your judgement and be willing to take and own a decision based on this assessment. Things will happen on shift that can mean you suddenly have to respond and go out to crime scene which could then take up the rest of your shift or week. The workload is demanding and you will have to manage many conflicting priorities.

Transparency

We are transparent in our actions, decisions and communications with both the people we work with and those we serve.

Impartiality

We must show impartiality throughout all our dealings with colleagues, partners and members of the public.

1. Application

In the application form, you’ll be asked for details allowing us to check your eligibility. This will include: personal information (name/DOB/address), education history, employment history, tattoos, convictions, business interests, financial position, diversity & monitoring and data protection. We don’t ask about your motivation to join Police Now at this stage.

We expect the application form to take no longer than 30 minutes to complete on average. Following a successful screening review, you’ll be invited to complete an online assessment within five days after your application form submission.

2. Online Assessment

First, you’ll complete a personality questionnaire. This is designed to gain an understanding of your behavioural preferences, how you approach tasks and interact with others. The second part is a week-in-the-life immersive assessment, where you’ll experience several realistic scenarios you would encounter in the day-to-day job as a detective or neighbourhood police officer.

We will look to see how you react in different situations, how you reflect on how you dealt with them and how you articulate yourself in written format.

Read our hints and tips for completing the online assessment

3. Assessment Centre

Following a successful online assessment, you will have the opportunity to be considered for an invitation to book a date and time slot at our assessment centre. Each assessment centre will now be held digitally, hosted via the online video conferencing software, Zoom. This stage is an opportunity for us to find out more about you and for you to find out more about the programme you have applied for. So, it’s important that you understand why you applied for a place on the programme and that you are yourself throughout the exercises.

You will go through three or four exercises: a strengths-based interview, a role play and self-reflection, a scenario-based task (Virtual Case Centre) and a written exercise (National Detective Programme assessments only). The tasks will contain the same content as face-to-face assessment centres, and you will be scored against the same framework and criteria. Travel expenses are reimbursed and light refreshments are available during your time with us.You will also be offered preparation support ahead of the assessment centre, which you will be sent details on when you progress through to this stage. The dress code is business wear.

Read our hints and tips for the Assessment Centre

4. Onboarding