Police officer interview questions will have YOU feeling
like the suspect. That's the idea.
Sort of like the police academy insisting that a trainee should
experience the shock from an ECD - electronic control device - or a
strong and pungent spray in the face with OC pepper spray before
graduation. YOU are about to go under intense interrogation as a law
enforcement candidate. Expect to answer hundreds of the toughest
questions you have ever had put to you.
I
performed OVER 500 police officer interviews.
The experience is
detailed in my best-selling book, Confessions of a Hardass - with
instructions on how to pass YOUR police oral board interview.
Many other bonus items are included in the 29.95 Police Entry Level
SUPER Course - including special details on
POLICE OFFICER
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS!
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HIRED in law enforcement!
If you are interested
in a law enforcement career, this is the most important place to
start - learning all about the
police officer interview
questions you will be facing. While police entrance
exams are important (and are a specialty of mine, I have written
quite a few), the police agencies where you apply will be much more
interested in how you handle yourself under pressure, and how well
you communicate under stress. Those two things sum up the most
difficult parts of the police officer work day. So that is what
the agency will focus in on; can you handle difficult people
under stressful circumstances, without losing your cool?
Just
like "good cop - bad cop," a police officer oral interview will be
conducted by at least one or two "good interviewers" and one or two
"bad interviewers." Bad, in the sense that they are going to ask you difficult questions,
then disagree with and challenge your answers, then add more and
more disagreement and stress. They will try to see if they can get
you to slip and lose your temper or no longer be able to communicate
because of the pressure.
Lucky for you, for 19 years in
total I was a "hardass." I was one of those purposely difficult
people putting police entry applicants through some of the most
hellish
police officer
interview questions they ever imagined.
I am often
asked if I enjoyed being the 'hardass" on the interview panel. The
answer of course is ... yes I did. Very much. I thoroughly enjoyed
knowing that I had a hand in finding and hiring only the best police
officer candidates to work alongside myself and my fellow officers.
I performed over 500 police officer interviews. The experience
is detailed in my best-selling book,
Confessions of a
Hardass - an insider's advice on passing your law enforcement
pre-employment interview.
Dozens more questions, along with
all the responses, a workbook with even more questions, plus score sheets and
many other bonus items are included in the 29.95
Police Entry Level
Super Course.
Also - test drive
Module 1 of Ultimate Oral
Board Prep (tm) - for FREE!
Here are some police
officer interview questions from my book;
Practice answering these questions;
"Over a year ago you overheard a brief conversation between
another officer and a sergeant.
The officer reported to
the sergeant that he lost his police shield (badge) at home and
can't find it. Time goes by and you basically forget the
conversation, until a party at that officer's house over a year
later. There, you overhear another conversation between that
officer's wife and other people. She shows them a wallet with a
police badge in it, and says that it was a great idea for her
husband to give her this "present" in order to avoid traffic
citations.
You remember the conversation about the lost
badge. What would you do?"
"You are working an overtime detail at a local high
school basketball game on a busy Friday night. You know another
officer is scheduled to work overtime with you, but she does not
appear and you do not see her at any time during the entire three
hours that you are at the game.
You don't mention this to
anyone and forget about it, but a week later, the next pay day,
you happen to see the officer's paycheck and the overtime money
from the basketball game is added into the check.
How do
you handle this situation?"
During a
background question, you answer a minor point by saying that you
didn't enter military service so that you could finish college.
One interviewer, a patrol captain, appears greatly agitated, and
when it is her turn, she tells you while sounding quite agitated
how she sacrificed college and instead she developed life and
leadership skills in the U.S. Navy. How do you respond?
"You are a newly promoted sergeant. One day, just before the end
of your shift and the roll-call for the new shift you meet one of
your close friends and former partners coming to work. During
some joking, he confides in you that he hates his new sergeant
because the sergeant's a drunk and a liar. When you become
concerned and ask for details, your old partner says to "forget
it" and rushes off, obviously annoyed with himself for saying
anything to you. Do you mention this to this other sergeant? To
the lieutenant? Do you keep it to yourself? How would you handle
this?"
"You are a new officer, and you stop a car for speeding.
In the
car is a woman who is screaming hysterically about having
to
leave quickly because her ex-husband just "stole her baby."
She won't calm down and she won't shut off the car and get out
like you ask. She wants to leave, and you are trying to think
about what to do or say to calm her down and have her act
rationally. She rolls the window back up before you can react and
begins to drive away. What do you do?"
"Are you opposed to
persons with sex-change operations becoming a police officer? If
a police officer looked like a male but had the mannerisms and
voice of a female, why might they not be able to gain the public's
respect?"
"The Chief of Police arrives at a crime scene
involving the shooting death of a drug suspect by a police
officer. You are guarding the scene and have been told by the
Lieutenant Watch Commander that NO ONE, with NO EXCEPTIONS is to
enter the crime scene. You tell the Chief this but he tells you to
ignore the lieutenant's order and then orders you to step aside
and let him pass. Take a few moments to collect your thoughts.
(The board waits about one minute before continuing), Okay, now
tell us specifically, in 50 words or less, EXACTLY the words you
will use in your police report to describe what happened when the
Chief of Police arrived on the crime scene."
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Dozens more questions, along with
all the responses, a workbook with even more questions, plus score sheets and
many other bonus items are included in the 29.95
Police Entry Level
Super Course.