Our Nottingham course only has a few places left if you are thinking about it. We have been really busy this week, especially on the application form checking front. Several forces have opened their recruitment lines, hence the rush on forms. Yet again though, moving back to the subject of getting into the job, despite what I have said on this blog, the advice we give in the police application form checking covering email, and the guidance we give out, I would say that three quarters of the forms we check d not deal with inappropriate conduct properly, to the extent that many would fail. I suspect this is because people have this view of the police that bobbies look after each other, and candidates want to show us that whilst they know inappropriate behaviour is wrong, they would not go overboard so nudge, nudge, wink, wink they would deal with it. This view is just SO wrong. Let me give you an example from Cheshire. There was an email going around a while back. It was  a set of crime scene photos from the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department). The LAPD had pursued a car theif onto the freeway. here the car stopped, and the thief tried to jump from one freeway onto another. Regrettably, he missed, and literally decapitated himself on a spiked fence underneath the freeway. The photos showed his head on the spiked fence whilst his body sat at the bottom of the fence. The photos were circulated bya control room operator to scores of people in the force. The subsequent discipline inquiry saw almost all of those people being subject to some form of disciplinary action for receiving inappropriate images. The point is that this is how severely the job views potentially inappropriate conduct (seniority excepted!)

have to say, we had a busy weekend. Exeter, Southampton and Stafford Saw everyone turning up, and having worked the First two, I can say what a good crowd you all were! Some groups really stood out in terms of asking questions and evidencing motivation, and you let kept us there till late both nights!

One question did come up on the feedback though, in terms of evidence for the interview question in terms of the diversity issue. Firstly, one should remember that the questions (and indeed the role plays and written exercises) stay the same, word for word, nationally, for six months. (It used to be 12 until NPIA realised the internet exists and that candidates tell each other what is on the assessment. They have tried to counter this by the six month change, which just half’s an absolutely massive flaw in the system into a merely massive one!). What this means is that as candidates are asked the same questions word for word, and often have very similiar backgrounds, the type of responses given to the interviewers tends to be the same or very similiar (another flaw in the system). Over the weekend, one student made the point that whilst I was suggesting types of answers that are good include race, sexuality and religion, my colleague appeared to suggest that these were a bit obvious now. Instead he suggested disability as being more “original”. Whilst I actually agree with this, it only works if you have that experience. If not, stick with the tried and tested topics of race etc. It is true something a bit different is more interesting for the interviewer, but as we prove on the course when we go through probable questions, most people will give such poor answers that you giving a common (but relevant) example will still mark you out as being a star. For police assessments, the trick is, as always, do your preparation and have examples ready to go.

We have been getting a  few queries from people boked nto the above courses. Can I just emphasise that these course WILL BE GOING AHEAD no matter what the weather. They are both big courses, and will represent a big chunk of those successful, and we guarantee they are going ahead. If you are thinking of attending but have not yet booked, there are at the moment three places left for Southampton and Four for Exeter.

January is always a busy month for us. Quite a few forces have got assessment cenres on the go, hence our courses in Exeter and Soutahmpton. TVP have has to postpone their assessments for this month due to bad weather, but we have sorted out a new course for those of our students affected by that. The new exercises interestingly enough put a bit more pressure on forces. The exercises issued in November are only vaild for six months. This means that say in TVP (Thames Valley Police), as they have had to delay they wll have to reschedule prior to the end of April, otherwise all the prep they have done for the new exercises will have to be skipped. This is why they have been so quick to come up wiht new dates, and yet another flaw in the NPIA system.

The new exercises continue to cause a few raised eyebrows amongst our people who have gone through them. As I have said, the emphasis on diversity is ridiculous, but preparation is as always the key. Having reviewed them, however, it is simply a matter of applying what we have always precahed, just with more frequency.

As if to prove what I am always saying, the new police assessment exercises that came in on Nov 1st 2009 and will run until the last day of April 2010 are again biased heavily towards dealing with diversity issues. I was discussing this with a contact who is involved in recruitment in Cheshire. Whilst it is arguably as to what extent ones ability to be a good police officer is tested, there is a obvious run on diversity issues. In three of the four role plays, there are elementsof either sexuality or race issues to be dealt with. And yet oddly enough, the two new written exercises deal with issues that could have been written to give existing specials and CSO’s an unfair advantage in the process. This is because they deal with such things as disorder and operational tactics that any police trained candidate would have  a good head start on. The interview questions are okay as far as it goes.

The morla of the story is to clearly understand how to deal with diversity. If you do not know how to challenge effectively, the way the police want you to, as opposed to the way you think it should be done, you will be dead. And ironically, this will catch out many specials and CSO’s who would normally have been expected to go through. The police culture is in some ways quite bullying, if you offend the establishment! Where existing specials and CSO’s go wrong is that they know that the senior force management will brush off uncomfortable truths regarding issues, and bury them. So, in assessment, they often try to do the same, and are failed by the same people who in a few months time, had they been successful, would have been telling them to bend the rules over detections or response figures!

The new police assessment exercises would suit diversity advisers better than police officers, but nevertheless, to pass, you need to understand all about diversity, the police way!

We have of course altered the emphasis of our course to reflect this new shift in the police assessment exercises.