Posted: 7/29/2017 10:10:10 AM EDT
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Making a big change soon. First time I have ever applied to be a police officer so I don't have anything to go on in the way of interview questions. I feel like I could handle 'canned' interview questions like, "what is your biggest strength, weakness. Why do you want to be a police officer?"
But are their any questions outside of that I need to know? Is there anything I need to be studying right now. It is for a LETO position. No prior LE experience, just security. |
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Be careful with rememberizing technical responses.
You say you have no LEO background, so they aren't gonna expect you to recite chapter and verse from the state codes and Dept. SOP. They are looking for how well you can think on your feet in a rapidly evolving situation and how you arrived at your conclusions. Oh, and also looking for tendencies the PC police don't want to see in a candidate. Common themes are making sure everybody is ok, ensuring fair treatment, not ignoring even little trouble signs out of coworkers, and dealing with the public through the lens of being very tolerant, inclusive and fair to them. |
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I'd give some thought before your interview to your previous work and personal experiences that enable you to deal with a variety of demographics (both socioeconomic and cultural differences will lead to interacting with the public in different ways in each of those neighborhoods), which previous jobs best prepared you for a career in this field (had both this one and the first one I listed recently), examples of times you had to make a difficult decision regarding a course of action to take - whether by yourself or with a supervisor or co-worker - and why you did what you did, why you want to work for that agency/in this career field... I had prior experience for my most recent oral board and I got asked a lot of "give us an example of a time when __________" kind of questions. This time I handled them TOTALLY different than my first interview with my local SO I had right out of the academy, which I bombed miserably.
Don't get too wordy with your answers, but make sure you answer their questions thoroughly and thoughtfully. |
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Remember - your immediate superior is normally who you report violations to, not the media, not the CLEO.
The degree to which you report an infraction versus intervene depends on the degree of the severity (petty theft as opposed to an immediate violation of 4A). Officers enjoy a special position within our society - we can't endanger our reputation as individuals or a group by lying. |
| Every department is different, some have been a breeze others i felt like someone was about to put some Marvin Gay on because they were getting in that ass! I will tell you that if they ask a question about you or something you've done, chances are they already know so go ahead and own it like a champ. The biggest problem is people try to down play stuff or cover things up. OWN IT!!!! Do your research before going in about the city or county that you are interviewing for this shows them that you are really interested in the agency not just the check. Do a ride a long if they have a ride along program. More often then not they will give scenarios that, I can assure you there will be no right answer. What ever answer you give stand behind it don't waver when they try to make you change it. There's nothing worse then someone who indecisive in law enforcement. |
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Be completely honest. They may ask you about things that are stretching the rules like "you see your friend/co-worker tell a white lie on a report, what do you do?"
Definitely don't overthink the questions. You should probably be OK not coming from mil or le background. Use the info they give you and don't analyze too deep. One example I remember is "you respond to a shooting and see a person laying in a pool of blood shot. You also see the suspect with a gun in hand running away. What do you do? (something along those lines). Of course you should value life over all and check the person and see if you can save them. However; if you think "hey in an active-shooter situation in school you gotta stop the shooter right"? They make these questions for people without prior experience so when you imagine these scenarios, build it in your mind from scratch. Be careful trying to involve prior training in your thought process. I think most of these are trying to check morals more than skill you already have. |
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Common sense goes a long way in responding to scenarios put to you. Don't respond based on what they did on "Law and Order". Value life above property, yourself, your partner and innocent third parties are what's important.
If your don't understand the question ask them to repeat. Don't assume or add anything to what they're asking you. I've flunked college graduates and post graduates because they tried to over analyze and remember everything they learned in school. Two of the best interviews I did were with street smart kids that had some good life experience behind them. Prior military also very good at interviews, mission oriented and followed orders but knew that situations were dynamic and fluid. Fully explain your answers, let them know what your thought process is and the logic behind your actions. |