The police officer Assessment Centre is the gateway to a career in policing. It's a demanding, multi-exercise evaluation that tests your values, communication, judgement, and problem-solving simultaneously. This guide walks you through every element and gives you practical, actionable preparation advice.
Overview of the Assessment Process
The current national assessment process for police constables in England and Wales is delivered by the College of Policing's assessment team. It consists of four main components: a written exercise (situational judgement), a competency-based interview, a group discussion exercise, and a written sketchbook exercise (in some versions of the process). The process is mapped to the Competency and Values Framework (CVF) and the Code of Ethics. Everything assessors score is referenced back to one or more of these frameworks.
The Competency and Values Framework
Before you do anything else, download and thoroughly read the CVF. It describes six core competencies — Emotionally Aware, Impartial, Takes Ownership, Collaborative, Delivers, Innovative and Open to Change — and the behaviours that evidence each one. Every answer you give in any exercise should be designed to demonstrate these competencies at the right level. The CVF also includes four policing values: public service, integrity, impartiality, and transparency. These aren't abstract principles — they should be genuinely reflected in how you approach every exercise.
The Written Exercise
The written exercise typically presents you with a scenario — perhaps a workplace situation, a community problem, or an organisational challenge — and asks you to respond in writing as if you were a police officer dealing with it. You might be asked to write a memo, a briefing note, or a response to a concerned member of the public. Assessors are looking at your written communication (clarity, structure, spelling, grammar), your reasoning, and the extent to which your response demonstrates CVF-aligned thinking. Plan your answer before you write. Use paragraphs. Check your work. It sounds basic, but many candidates fail to do all three.
The Competency-Based Interview
The CBI is a structured interview where assessors ask you questions designed to elicit specific examples of past behaviour. Each question will begin with a prompt like "Tell me about a time when..." or "Describe a situation in which you...". The key is to use the STAR method: Situation (context), Task (what you needed to do), Action (specifically what you did), Result (what happened). Your examples can come from any area of life — work, volunteering, sport, community, family. Policing experience is not required. What matters is that your actions in the example clearly demonstrate the competency being assessed.
Preparing Your Example Bank
Before the assessment centre, prepare at least two strong examples for each of the six competencies. That's twelve examples minimum. Each example should be specific, recent (ideally within the last three years), and told from your own perspective — "I did X" rather than "we did X". Practise telling each example out loud until it flows naturally within a three-to-four minute window. Have a trusted friend or family member ask you mock interview questions. The difference between candidates who've practised out loud and those who've only read their examples on paper is immediately apparent to assessors.
The Group Exercise
The group exercise places you in a scenario with other candidates. You might be asked to prioritise a list of community problems, agree on a course of action for a fictional organisation, or discuss how to allocate limited resources. Assessors observe you throughout. They're watching how you communicate, how you listen, whether you help move the group toward a decision, how you handle disagreement, and whether your contributions are substantive or purely performative. The golden rules: listen more than you speak, acknowledge good points from others explicitly, invite quieter participants to contribute, don't dominate, but don't disappear either.
What Assessors Are Actually Looking For
Assessors at police assessment centres are trained evaluators, not trick specialists. They're not trying to catch you out. They're trying to find people who demonstrate, through their behaviour across multiple exercises, that they share the values and competencies required to be an effective police officer. They are looking for evidence — specific, behavioural evidence — not generic statements. "I'm a good communicator" is not evidence. "I explained the situation clearly to the victim in language they could understand, checked their comprehension, and then provided written follow-up information" is evidence.
Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Using vague examples with no specific actions — fix this by drilling down on exactly what you personally did. Saying "we" when you mean "I" — assessors can only score your individual behaviour. Ignoring the values dimension — always consider the Code of Ethics angle in your answers. Rushing through your examples — take a breath, structure your answer, and don't skip the Result. Not asking for clarification when you don't understand a question — assessors would rather you ask than guess and go off-track.
The Day Itself
The Assessment Centre typically runs for a full day. Dress professionally but comfortably — you will be moving between rooms, potentially doing physical activities (in some processes), and you need to be relaxed. Arrive early. Bring water and any permitted reference materials. Read every exercise brief carefully before beginning. Manage your energy across the day — the CBI later in the day can suffer if you've spent all your mental energy on the morning exercises.
After the Assessment Centre
Results are typically communicated within two to four weeks of the assessment. If you pass, you move to vetting. If you don't pass, you'll receive feedback. Request this feedback and take it seriously — it tells you exactly which competencies you need to develop before the next assessment. Many officers who are now serving constables didn't pass first time. The assessment centre is a learnable process, and candidates who take the feedback seriously and prepare differently consistently improve their performance on reapplication.