These courses are now proving very popular, and the venues have been booked. However, there is only so much space at these Holiday Inns in terms of people that we can fit into the meeting rooms. If you do want a place at either of these, we would advise you to book sooner rather than later. It is very rare for us to say that, as we think it is a bit cheesy, but this time it is true!

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.

I am often asked what the police think of assessment centre preparation such as we provide. Well, as far as the police are concerned, I promise you they would much prefer every candidate to turn up at the assessment centre with an equal level of prior knowledge of the assessment process and the exercises it contains. Ideally this knowledge would be zero. Their argument is that this gives each candidate an equal chance of passing. Consequently, it would be fair to say that the police have no interest whatsoever in assisting privately run preparation training courses.

The official police line therefore is that the assessment centre is merely testing your potential to be a police officer. There is a definite suggestion from the service that the best way to prepare for this process is to simply be yourself. So, they argue preparation cannot help.

As with many things to do with police policies and aims, the reality of life is completely ignored. Assume there are two candidates attending the assessment centre on the same day. One is a taxi driver, who spends his or her working day driving around a large city in a black cab, having numerous short conversations with people they are unlikely to meet again. They have never found themselves in a situation where they have had to take part in a role play which has been marked and assessed. The second candidate is a sales person for a photocopying company. Any professional sales company will subject its employees to numerous training courses, a fundamental part of which will almost invariably involve role-playing. They will have been taught how to ask questions, they will know about the principles of time management, they will be aware of the principles of finding solutions. It is clearly foolish to suggest that both candidates go into the assessment centre on an equal footing. Consequently, to suggest that every candidate would go to the assessment centre with an equal level of knowledge is simply naïve. Special constables for example are a group of volunteer police officers who are not paid, but clearly have exposure to the police organisation and culture that non police staff will not have. Therefore, they must have an advantage over say, a taxi driver. Having said that, many special constables and members of support staff actually fail the assessments as they treat the role-play scenarios as they know they would in dealt with in reality (i.e. with a typical policing attitude), and subsequently get low marks.

The assessment centre process is supposed to assess a candidate’s ability to be a police officer or PCSO. It basically makes candidates perform a certain number of tasks and whilst doing these tasks, if they display the skills and abilities desired to the required standard, they will pass. On the face of it from the police perspective, every candidate should enter the assessment with an identical level of knowledge. As illustrated above though, there is a huge flaw in this argument. If your life experiences – your background, education, employment or any of the dozens of factors that make you an individual – have made you particularly good at some of the skills being assessed, then clearly you will have an advantage over somebody who has not been fortunate. The notion therefore that all candidates walk through the door at the assessment centre with the same opportunity to pass is clearly flawed. No matter how much the police recruitment system may wish otherwise, preparation is a huge factor in passing.

Many forces actually pay companies to run promotion courses for their officers. It is nonsensical for the police to then argue that training courses for recruits are worthless, when forces are actively providing (and funding) courses covering the same principles for promotion examinations.

Another factor to be considered is that when the police say they are against preparation training courses, what they really mean is that they do not like the average candidate being given preparation and coaching advice for the assessment. Yet the police service is in favour of providing the same support to people who are under-represented in the service. If you are from certain minority groups, chances are you will be offered the opportunity as a candidate to go on some form of assessment centre preparation course run by the police themselves. My view therefore is this – if one group of people are to be allowed the opportunity to prepare in advance, so should any other. It makes a mockery of any police claims that there is no need for preparation. If preparation is of no value, then why do the police themselves run preparation courses for minority candidates?

To summarise, the police as an organisation do not like privately provided assessment centre training (although privately many officers actually recommend us!). You, as the candidate, need to ask why this is the case. The police argument is that preparation training serves no purpose and will not help you to pass. Whilst they will not admit this, the real view is that they want to see you, the candidate, as you really are. They want to see you in the assessment centre, warts and all.

If you fail, it doesn’t really matter to the police, because they have another 60,000 people to assess. It’s the candidate who misses out. Aside from this, it is not in the police interest to have even more successful candidates. It just makes it harder for the police to select people if everyone is good. Also from a political perspective, if the standard of candidate goes up, it makes it even harder for the police to recruit from disadvantaged communities or groups.

None of this of course should really be the candidate’s problem. If you have the ability to prepare, and the determination, then there is no reason why you should not be allowed to do so.

So if the candidate pays to attend a course, or buys a book, and that preparation will do them no good whatsoever, why should the police be bothered? If attending a course is a complete waste of time, why would the police care? If the ideas contained within it, along with the information and techniques were of no value, why would this trouble the police? They have another 60,000 candidates to see. Are they that concerned about you wasting your money? I suspect not.

Even if you’re a cynic, and to be honest I like cynicism in a police officer, the only logical conclusion is that the police service will try to play down the value of such preparation because they do not want you, the candidate, to do it. Ask yourself this final thing. Are they really concerned about you wasting your money on a course or a book? Or, is it more likely they are concerned that having prepared thoroughly you will fly through your assessment centre. Think about it!