TALKINGBLUES BLOG

I mentioned a while back about doing a course in Liverpool where we had some real issues about integrity and “doing the right thing”. It is clear that most people outside of the job think that we in the police all look after one another and that you should be mindful of the feelings of everyone in a situation concerning inappropriate conduct. Typically, when we are talking about dealing with inappropriate behaviour, I get examples like:

“A new starter came to my office. Over a period of a few weeks, it was clear that homophobic comments were being made to them. I could see they were clearly upset by the remarks. “A new starter came to my office. Over a period of a few weeks, it was clear that homophobic comments were being made to them. I could see they were clearly upset by the remarks.  The next time I was present when XXX behavior happened, I immediately asked the offender to step outside, so as not to cause a scene. I explained to them that their comments were unacceptable, and if they happened again, I would report them”

 The next time I was present when XXX behaviour happened, I immediately asked the offender to step outside, so as not to cause a scene. I explained to them that their comments were unacceptable, and if they happened again, I would report them”

People think this is a great answer, but it is RUBBISH!!!! If you come out with an answer like that, you will fail the police recruitment process, and can forget any hopes of joining the police for at least six months. Look at the example this way:

“A new starter came to my office. Over a period of  a few weeks, it was clear that homophobic comments were being made to them.(SO YOU ARE TELLING THE ASSESSORS YOU SAT ON YOUR BACKSIDE AND DID NOTHING ABOUT THIS BEHAVIOUR FOR SEVERAL WEEKS, SO ARE YOU THE RIGHT PERSON FOR US?)

 I could see they were clearly upset by the remarks. (WELL, HOW SENSITIVE ARE YOU? BUT OF COURSE, HAD YOU POSSESSED THE NERVE TO DO SOEMTHING AS SOON AS THE BEHAVIOUR STARTED, THIS WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED! SO, YOU HAVE ADED TO THE PROBLEM.

“A new starter came to my office. Over a period of a few weeks, it was clear that homophobic comments were being made to them. I could see they were clearly upset by the remarks.  The next time I was present when XXX behaviour happened, I immediately asked the offender to step outside, so as not to cause a scene. I explained to them that their comments were unacceptable, and if they happened again, I would report them”

. (WHAT A WASTE OF BREATH! WOULD YOU HAVE ASKED AN ASSAULT VICTIM IF HE DID NOT MIND BEING BEATEN UP? WHAT IF HE SAID HE WAS FINE WITH BEING HOMOPHOBICALLY ABUSED, WOULD YOU LEAVE IT AT THAT?

 The next time I was present when XXX behavior happened, I immediately asked the offender to step outside, so as not to cause a scene. (TWO ISSUES HERE. FIRSTLY, IT ONLY HAPPENED AGAIN AS YOU DID NOT DO ANYTHING ALL OF THE OTHER TIMES. SECONDLY, WHY DID YOU ASK THEM TO STEP OUTSIDE? YOU SHOULD BE SETTING AN EXAMPLE TO THE GROUP, IN PUBLIC)

 I explained to them that their comments were unacceptable, and if they happened again, I would report them” (THIS IS NOT A POSITVE RESULT, IT IS YOU BEING WEAK. A GOOD CANDIDATE WILL EXPLAIN HOW THEY EXPLAINED TO THE OFFENDER HOW UNACEPTABLE THE COMMENTS WERE, AND THEY THEN APOLOGISED TO THE VICTIM, AND LEARNT FROM THEIR MISTAKES. THEN, YOU REPORTED THEM TO THE BOSS ANYWAY. THIS IS WHAT WE WANT.

If you cannot see the logic in all of this, you will struggle to pass the police recruitment process. Joining the police force requires you to understand challenging inappropriate behavior, and if you would have been happy with the first example, you need to have a good rethink

Interesting bit of news. Since the police assessment system started, the scenarios have changed on 1^st November, and remained the same throughout the year. As we have always said, this leaves the system with a huge flaw in it. As the scenarios are the same for all English and welsh forces (including BTP etc), this meant that some 14000 people every year would do the SAME exercises, word for word. For the avoidance of doubt, the role plays, written exercises and interviews are all identical for a 12 month time period.

This of course completely undermines the assessment. In a closed community like the police, people who are for example, Special Constables or CSO’s naturally talk about the exercises. Our sources for example mean we always find out the new exercises within days of them being released, as students seek feedback from us on their performance. (And why shouldn’t they?)

Sure, the assessment centre staff make you sign a disclaimer saying you will not tell anyone, but once you have passed, how likely is that to happen? Even more bizarrely, some candidates who had their assessment on say Nov 1^st and failed it, would reapply again six months later and find they were doing the SAME assessment.

So, three years and 42000 candidates later, the National Policing Improvement Agency has finally decided to switch the assessments to………six month changes. This stops candidates doing the same assessment again, but still leaves 7000 people free to blab about the exercises by the time the changeover happens. We find this nonsense.

But the best part is WHY they have done this. Some candidates were putting the scenarios up on youtube!!! Hello NPIA, and you are surprised by this why exactly?

The whole system is undermined by this lazy approach to new scenarios. My tip? If you want to have a look at what exercises are coming up, do a good search on youtube.

reading this about one students visit to his police assessment story, i felt it worth while posting this. had a great course yesterdy In liverpool as well, although we had a cracking discussion about ethics in policing, which I will tell you about soon. Switched venue to the jurys inn at the Liverpool Kings Dock, which was a good venue to.

recieved this week:

”

Hi John & Co,

I just wanted to thank you for the course last month. After the course I felt a hundred times more confident about the Assessment Centre than I had done before. The training was absolutely brilliant. Both trainers were very knowledgeable, approachable and friendly.

I went to the A/C and I have never felt so nervous in my life. We started off with the role plays, however after doing the first one I felt I did so well that the fear just vanished and I felt confident about the rest of the day, in fact you could even say that I enjoyed it!

I received my results last week and was so happy to read that I’d passed! I scored 75% in Respect for Race and Diversity, 100% in Oral Communication, 100% in Written Communication and 66% Overall. I scored mostly A’s and B’s, a few C’s and D’s over the entire day!

Your course is invaluable and you should charge more for it! Without it I honestly do not feel that I could have passed the A/C. If ever anybody asks how they can prepare for the A/C (and the Application form, where I used your checking service) I will always tell them to do the TalkingBlues course.”

Thank you very much.

Bit of an ego trop for me this really, but cannot resist putting it on the blog!

“Hi John
 
 I just wanted to say thanks again for the course yesterday. It was excellent and certainly exceeded my expectations.
 
I found the whole day extremely useful and informative, in particular the role play sessions which really brought the process alive. This is in no small part due to your knowing the scenarios inside out and being able to jump straight into what ever character was necessary. I was also extremely impressed by your ability to maintain the high standard during the whole of what was quite a long day. Likewise, your knowledge of the process was first rate.  Having the benefit of this experience for the whole day was worth every penny.
 
The competancy based session was also very good and got me thinking about other potential examples I could use.
 
I would recommend this course to anyone thinking of joining the police and will do so when opportunities arise.  I now feel more confident in my ability to get through the assesment. 
 
Many thanks again, I’ll let you know how I get on.
 
Kind regards”

Talking Blues is the market leading police recruitment training company, running on average about 45 courses a year. Operating since 2001 in England and Wales, we now wish to meet officers, former officers or police recruitment support staff, from Ireland and Scotland who would be interested in starting a Talking Blues franchise in that area. Following the established and proven Talking Blues model, you will need the following skills;

An excellent knowledge of the police recruitment system (obviously!)

The ability to coach and develop people in an interesting way appropriate to their needs.

The ability to get your point across ina  humorous and informative fashion.

The strength of character to give development advice to students in an open and honest way, whether it is good or bad!

The Talking Blues philosophy is not to mollycoddle people, our role is to get them through the process. If they need a shove to wake them up to something they are doing, then we provide it if it will make them pass. If you can do all this in an informative manner, and keep peoples attention for ten hours, whilst ideally making them laugh every now and then, you could be our type of guy or girl.  

These abilities are more important than your background. Many police trainers can be lazy, relying on patronising material from NPIA, and just working for the money.  That will not be you. You will want not just the financial rewards but also the satisfaction when at the end of a course, all the students want to shake your hand and say thanks. Incidentally, We have no interest in political correctness, all of our students are equal, our role is to make their aspirations become reality.

This is a great opportunity to stay involved with the police, yet run effectively your own business and have all the benefits of being responsible for your own success.

If this may be you, please email our managing Director, John McTaggart, at john.mctaggart@talkingblues.co.uk