Joining the Police: A Guide

Your Personal Guide to Becoming a Police Officer

"The police are the public and the public are the police."
- Sir Robert Peel

Policing is a challenging yet rewarding career to which many people in the UK aspire. However, the police recruitment and assessment process is something many fail, as police forces demand only the best applicants to protect and serve the public.

Police forces in England and Wales are increasing officer numbers by 20,000 as part of 'Operation Uplift'; this will require recruiting 45,000 officers over the next few years. Police Scotland and Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) continue to regularly recruit and encourage people to become police officers. Note that the PSNI online application process opens 26 February! All have challenging, multi-stage recruitment processes. In this competitive process, only 1 in 10 applicants prevail through the myriad of police application, assessment tests and interviews. Most fail through lack of preparation for or knowledge of this police application process.

Help is at Hand...

The core purpose of the UK police service is to prevent crime and disorder through a model Sir Robert Peel described as 'Policing by Consent'. These Peelian Principles underpinning policing have stood nearly 200 years. While policing priorities may change over time, there is never a shortage of applicants.

You could spend a lifetime and fortune getting lost browsing online sites, forums and a plethora of books about joining the police or on each step of the process. This new guide now brings expertise and insights for the whole process into one single, simple, and affordable digital toolkit. Mindful of commonalities between police forces in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, this digital guide provides:

• Support in making an informed decision on whether policing is right for you
• Guidance through the typical stages of the recruitment application process, crystallised into '8 Steps to Success'
• Help with transforming your life/work experience into scoring evidence aligned to police officer competencies
• Tangible examples of application form answers and a bank of interview questions to practice
• Explanations and signposting to bespoke resources (e.g. psychometric testing)
• Coaching guidance and other tips to help turbocharge your preparation and boost your confidence

I hope you find the digital guide useful, wish you success on your journey and welcome you to Police Success!

Kind Regards,
Steve