Become
a police
officer
Join our force
www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/recruitment
Join our force
Are you up to
the challenge?
If you want a job that’s incredibly rewarding and
exciting then becoming a police officer may be
the future career you’re looking for.
As a police officer you will reduce crime and make
a real difference to the communities of Avon and
Somerset, helping people feel safe and be safe.
Every day will be different and you’ll provide
support and reassurance to people who have
been a victim of crime.
Many will look to you for guidance and protection
and you will need to tailor your approach to address
particular needs and fears.
www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/recruitment
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Join our force
What we look for
We want people who will provide
We want someone who is both
an outstanding service to our
professional and friendly who can
communities; somebody with
build relationships with their
integrity and the values to hold a
colleagues and their communities.
position of trust and responsibility.
You need to be enthusiastic,
You need to care about making a
reliable, self-disciplined, flexible
difference, enjoy helping people,
and confident enough to take
and want to actively engage in
control of situations.
partnership with others,
understanding their needs,
We want people who take pride in
whatever their background or
their work and who will be proud to
situation.
say they are a police officer.
What we offer
We offer a unique, stimulating
•A final salary pension
and rewarding career with an
opportunity to make a real
•Training and development difference to your community.
opportunities throughout
For many of our officers, that’s
your career
enough. But we also offer:
•Support and advice through
•Starting salary of £19,000 our Occupational Health Unit
– 22,000 (depending on skills
and a range of staff associations
and experience)
•Lifestyle benefits, including sports •Annual leave of 22 paid annual and social facilities and activities, holiday days, plus public
cycle to work scheme, childcare holidays, which increases to
vouchers.
30 days depending on length of service.
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www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/recruitment
PC Maz
Collacott-Nuur
“It sounds clichéd and a bit cheesy
but I really joined the police to help
people. I’m a people person and I
never really wanted to sit in an office
so this was the natural choice for me.
I have two young daughters and I
would strongly recommend the police
service to them. Working here gives
you such a huge range of different
opportunities. You meet so many
people from different walks of life
and learn something new every day.”
www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/recruitment
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Join our force
Stage 1
Online assessment
Situational Judgement Test
If you pass the Behaviour Styles Questionnaire,
you will be invited to complete the final stage of the
The first stage of the process is an online assessment
online process - a situational judgement test.
tool which is made up of the following:
This describes a number of scenarios and potential
actions per scenario. You will be asked to identify
Registration
which actions will result in a very effective or
Initial registration of your details, including driving
counterproductive outcome.
licence (if applicable) and National Insurance number.
You will be provided with a feedback report and if you
Realistic Job Preview Questionnaire
are successful you will be asked to complete an
The purpose of this questionnaire is to help you
application form.
understand more about the role and whether it’s right
for you. The questionnaire will focus on some of the
demands that would be placed on you if you were to
Stage 2
become a police officer. There is no pass/fail for this,
but at the end of the questionnaire the system will
give you an overall rating of your suitability for the role
Application Form
based on your responses so you can make a decision
if you would like to progress.
Our application form asks for the usual information you
might expect such as personal details and education
Eligibility Screen
and employment history details. We also want you to
This section checks your eligibility in line with the
complete some competency based questions so we
national recruitment standards and will advise you
can start to assess your suitability for the role.
immediately at the end of the questionnaire if you meet
the required criteria. Should you be referred as a result
For example, we’ll ask you to give us details of when
of any of your answers, a member of our recruitment
you’ve provided a great service or you’ve taken
team will be in contact to let you know the outcome.
personal responsibility for making something happen.
Behaviour Styles Questionnaire
If you’re successful we’ll invite you to an assessment
This questionnaire invites you to review a number
centre.
of statements and indicate which statements you
completely agree with or completely disagree with
on a sliding scale. You will be provided with
feedback once this has been completed and
advised of the result.
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www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/recruitment
Join our force
Stage 3
Stage 4
The Assessment
Centre
Second interview
After you pass the assessment centre – we’ll invite you
The assessment centre consists of:
•A 20 minute competency-based interview
•Two written exercises
•Four role play exercises
•Numerical reasoning questionnaire
and a verbal logical reasoning test.
These exercises will test your ability to think on
your feet, make quick decisions based on sound
judgement and also measure your basic maths
and literacy levels.
This will take half a day to complete and you’ll
receive your results two to three weeks later.
for an interview out on one of our districts.
At this stage we want to know more about you – what
motivates you, what life skills or experience you’ll bring
to the role and whether you can relate to people from
all walks of life and different backgrounds.
The kinds of things we’ll ask you about might include:
•Community focus
•Achievement focus
•Integrity
•Personal standards
•Leadership
Some of our questions may be scenario-based –
we’ll ask you to tell us what you have done –
or what you would do in certain situations so we can
see how you might respond as a police officer.
If you’re successful, we’ll invite you for a
second interview.
www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/recruitment
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Join our force
Stage 5
Pre-employment
checks
The role of a police officer is demanding. During this
assessment we’ll be checking to make sure you’re
medically and physically fit to do the job.
Medical risk assessment
What we’ll check:
•blood pressure
•urine test
This will ensure you’re fit to take the physical tests.
Physical assessment
We test two areas: endurance and dynamic strength.
Endurance is tested through a fitness shuttle run
often known as the Bleep Test. A good indicator of
the fitness level needed for this test is to be able to
run at a good pace for around four minutes over a
distance of about 700m.
The Dynamic Strength test involves performing five
If you pass – the next stage is your medical
assessment which will be carried out by the
Force Occupational Health Nurses.
Medical
What we’ll check:
•BMI
•Eye sight
•Colour vision
•Lung function
•Hearing
We may ask you to have a further medical carried out
at our Occupational Health Unit.
You will also be asked to complete a Confidential
Medical History questionnaire and bring it with you to
the assessment.
Please bear in mind – at some point during the
recruitment process – we will carry out a drugs test.
Once you have been cleared medically and
physically then we will progress your application
to the next stage.
seated chest pushes and five seated back pulls on
a machine called a Dyno. If you can do five full body
press ups, i.e. lifting your own body weight, then
you’re in good shape for this test.
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Join our force
www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/recruitment
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Join our force
Stage 5 contd.
Vetting checks
Sergeant
Shaun Finn
“It’s a bit of a cliché, but I joined the
We carry out security checks on you and your:
police because I wanted to make a
•spouse/partner
difference. I wanted to actually be
•paternal father
in a position where I was physically
•step father/mother’s partner
able to do something about burglars,
•paternal mother
thieves and anti-social behaviour.”
•stepmother/father’s partner
•brothers/sisters (full, half and step)
•children/children of your partner
(only those over 10 years old)
•any other adult living at your address.
You must declare any convictions or cautions on your
application form and security questionnaire. If you do
have any to declare, it will not necessarily preclude
your application, we’ll need to take the nature and the
circumstances into account.
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Join our force
Stage 5 contd.
Stage 6
Biometric vetting
Starting your
training
Once you have received your provisional offer for
the post of student officer – we’ll need to take your
fingerprints and DNA samples to carry out some
final vetting checks against our databases.
All new student officers will take part in a two-year
training programme. This programme is structured
around three distinct phases, designed to give new
officers the best possible start to their careers.
References
Phase 1: Initial training is based at Police HQ based in
Portishead. Taking 20 weeks to complete, the training
covers basic policing, law and skills practice. During
We send references to all of your previous employers
this phase, student officers may only take annual leave
in the last three years. If you haven’t been employed
at set times.
for three years, we’ll ask for a character reference or
an educational reference instead. We’ll send the
Phase 2: During this phase student officers will be
reference requests out around five to eight weeks
posted to their home district and will work closely with
before your start date.
a tutor constable, completing a range of operational
tasks. They will be guided and supported to help them
Once all the vetting checks and references have been
reach the required standard for independent patrol.
carried out and we’ve received clearance – we will
This phase can last up to 15 weeks.
write to you to congratulate you on your successful
application and inform you of a start date.
Phase 3: For the remainder of their training student
officers will work independently as part of a shift or
team of more experienced police officers. They will
complete additional ‘protected learning’ and will be
assessed against national standards. If successful,
student officers will be awarded a Diploma in Policing
and will be confirmed as constables.
www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/recruitment
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Join our force
Free page
Chief Inspector Norman Pascal
“Working as a police officer has given
me an education and a good standard
of living. I’ve been an officer for over
twenty years now and I would
definitely recommend it as a career.
There are lots of different career
opportunities available in the police.
I’ve worked all over the service, from
the Communications department –
which deals with the emergency calls,
to CID to being a frontline officer.”
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www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/recruitment
Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Working together to make the communities
of Avon and Somerset feel safe and be safe
www.avonandsomerset.police.uk