Posted: 10/5/2009 3:54:12 PM EDT
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Currently I am looking for a job in LE. I have had a few interviews so far and I am just waiting to hear back from them. I was wondering what are some common oral board questions and what is the best way to answer them. I know some of them don't have a right/wrong answer, but learning what they are looking for whould be very nice to know.
The only tricky question that I have had so far was Q: You are eating at a fast food restaurant with your FTO. An elderly couple comes up and asks for directions. Your FTO says that he is eating so he will not give directions. The elderly couple starts to walk away. What do you do? My answer was to give them directions. I said I would try to have a quick casual conversation with them first and then give them the directions so that it does not look like I am trying to show up my FTO. |
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The answer to every question is this: do what's right. do it for the right reason. have common sense. good luck  It seems a might rude to come up and interrupt a meal, but if your FTO gets pissed because you give directions he is in the wrong line of work or should have given directions, just my opinion. 
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Not an oral board, but interview questions, but since my interviews are done at the level with someone who has LE experience, there may be some similarities.
I was interviewing for a position in a Secretary's Office. I went knowing about the Acts that authorized what I would be investigating, what the differences were between similar Acts, and how fraud could occur in that area. That I knew the difference and authorizing Acts impressed the interviewer. In another interview, I was asked of what I would do, say to someone who was being reluctant or evasive in answering questions. My answer was to tell them that if they continue in that course, then more formal procedures could be used against them. I don't know if I was right or wrong in that one. I was asked in that interview to give an example of my analytical ability; I related a devised defense tactic for a missile exercise I did in the Navy. At the time, I thought that I had blown it with such an answer but I was told by mentors later that they want to see the analytical ability, not necessarily something that relates to the job being interviewed for. I used that example for the writing example for the Secretary's Office. For the writing example for the job in this paragraph, they wanted a case I had done in the past, so I related a government theft incident. Right? Wrong? I don't know. What I do know is that at my level, researching the job such that I know the statutes about it, something about the available technology for it..................is rather expected. _________________________________________________ ("Names are for tombstones, baby! Take this Honkie out and waste him!"––Mr. Big who then leaves "Waste him? Is that a bad thing?"––007 to Solitaire "The interview is over."––Solitaire, (w,stte), "Live and Let Die") |
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Ok, I had another interview today. So here is a new question.
You are called to a domestic. You arrive on scene to see a large man (bigger than you) standing in the front lawn and his wife is laying down at his feet. She is bleeding from her head. As soon as you step out from your car the man looks at you and says, "This is between me and my wife, just go away." Your closest back up is 4 minutes away. What do you do? |
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Ok, I had another interview today. So here is a new question. You are called to a domestic. You arrive on scene to see a large man (bigger than you) standing in the front lawn and his wife is laying down at his feet. She is bleeding from her head. As soon as you step out from your car the man looks at you and says, "This is between me and my wife, just go away." Your closest back up is 4 minutes away. What do you do? I hope you said "That guy is going to wish my back up was closer because the fight is going to be on until he gets there." Or something similar. |
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Advise dispatch of the situation, have them step officers up and see if any agency or anything is closer.
***Also for after the call scold whoever sent me to a DV by myself =)*** Attempt to explain to the man what needs to happen in a firm unwavering voice to show I am in control. Have him move away from his wife and get down on his stomach with his hands where I can see them while hes at tazer point, if he refuses I would taze him, of course I wouldnt do it in the chest now...=( By then my 4 minute away back up should be here or close and we take the bad guy into custody,wife gets to go with EMS and we all high five and go eat donuts. |
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Ok, I had another interview today. So here is a new question. You are called to a domestic. You arrive on scene to see a large man (bigger than you) standing in the front lawn and his wife is laying down at his feet. She is bleeding from her head. As soon as you step out from your car the man looks at you and says, "This is between me and my wife, just go away." Your closest back up is 4 minutes away. What do you do? Tell back-up to hurry the hell up. Tell the man to back away and prone him out on the ground. If he refuses go right to OC/TASER/BATON. |
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Awesome, I basically said the same thing to the panel. The agency then called me tonight and offered me a second interview. Congrats! I had my second interview on Friday with the agency I dispatch for. Different ball game in the interview when the 5 people on the board are people you work with on a daily basis. I was more relaxed in the first interview which is technically harder. Let me know if I can help, the interview is still fresh in my mind! |
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Awesome, I basically said the same thing to the panel. The agency then called me tonight and offered me a second interview. Congrats! I had my second interview on Friday with the agency I dispatch for. Different ball game in the interview when the 5 people on the board are people you work with on a daily basis. I was more relaxed in the first interview which is technically harder. Let me know if I can help, the interview is still fresh in my mind! So, what kind of questions did they ask you? I am really hoping to get this job, but it will be tough, there is still a few people that moved onto the second interview. |
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Awesome, I basically said the same thing to the panel. The agency then called me tonight and offered me a second interview. Congrats! I had my second interview on Friday with the agency I dispatch for. Different ball game in the interview when the 5 people on the board are people you work with on a daily basis. I was more relaxed in the first interview which is technically harder. Let me know if I can help, the interview is still fresh in my mind! So, what kind of questions did they ask you? I am really hoping to get this job, but it will be tough, there is still a few people that moved onto the second interview. They asked: Do you like working alone or in groups? What is the biggest disappointment in your work/career history? You stop a vehicle and it is a member of this department, you suspect the driver is DUI, what do you do? Would you rather type a report or dictate it? What types of call should police not take any action on? That is all I can think of right now. |
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Awesome, I basically said the same thing to the panel. The agency then called me tonight and offered me a second interview. Congrats! I had my second interview on Friday with the agency I dispatch for. Different ball game in the interview when the 5 people on the board are people you work with on a daily basis. I was more relaxed in the first interview which is technically harder. Let me know if I can help, the interview is still fresh in my mind! So, what kind of questions did they ask you? I am really hoping to get this job, but it will be tough, there is still a few people that moved onto the second interview. They asked: Do you like working alone or in groups? What is the biggest disappointment in your work/career history? You stop a vehicle and it is a member of this department, you suspect the driver is DUI, what do you do? Would you rather type a report or dictate it? What types of call should police not take any action on? That is all I can think of right now. Wow those are some good questions. What are they looking for in the first and last questions? I wonder because to the first question I would say I like both and that is why I chose to go into law enforcement. As far as the last one, what did you say? |
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Awesome, I basically said the same thing to the panel. The agency then called me tonight and offered me a second interview. Congrats! I had my second interview on Friday with the agency I dispatch for. Different ball game in the interview when the 5 people on the board are people you work with on a daily basis. I was more relaxed in the first interview which is technically harder. Let me know if I can help, the interview is still fresh in my mind! So, what kind of questions did they ask you? I am really hoping to get this job, but it will be tough, there is still a few people that moved onto the second interview. They asked: Do you like working alone or in groups? What is the biggest disappointment in your work/career history? You stop a vehicle and it is a member of this department, you suspect the driver is DUI, what do you do? Would you rather type a report or dictate it? What types of call should police not take any action on? That is all I can think of right now. Wow those are some good questions. What are they looking for in the first and last questions? I wonder because to the first question I would say I like both and that is why I chose to go into law enforcement. As far as the last one, what did you say? I said I like working alone, which is what my current job (dispatch) is (kind of);however I like to work with groups as well from time to time to accomplish a common goal. But if I had to pick one I said I would like working by myself, then I only have concentrate on what I am doing. I said the calls that police should not take any action on are civil cases. A police department deals with only criminal law, we do not need to get mixed up in civil law such as property disputes, evictions, child custody cases. A police department is able to standby to keep the peace; however their involvement should end there. |
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Ok, I had another interview today. So here is a new question. You are called to a domestic. You arrive on scene to see a large man (bigger than you) standing in the front lawn and his wife is laying down at his feet. She is bleeding from her head. As soon as you step out from your car the man looks at you and says, "This is between me and my wife, just go away." Your closest back up is 4 minutes away. What do you do? Pretty easy to see the likelyhood of imminent GBH to the wife. Big Boy, meet Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson. They would like to see your hands, please - slowly. And please get your damned ugly face into the dirt so I can cuff you up nice once my backup hurries his ass over here. |
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***Also for after the call scold whoever sent me to a DV by myself =)*** I bet it's nice to expect a backup for every call. Before I left the S.O. a few years ago, "One deputy, one call" was pretty routine, unless it was a slow night. After burying Deputy Etheridge we dont even send 1 officer to report calls anymore, thats what died at. In my area sending 1 officer to a DV call is a quick way to get in a world of fucking hurt. |
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Most common questions are ones where there is no "right" answer. I've noticed that whenever you do pick a answer they will nit pick you on it and try to make you change your answer. Very true. Here's a couple that I was asked: What are your greatest strengths? What is your biggest weakness? Tell me about a problem you had with a past supervisor, and what you did to resolve the issue. Where do you see yourself in five years? What would you do if you were given an order (legal) by a command officer that you completely disagreed with? |
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I had an oral board question pop up one time that went something like this:
You respond to a suicide call where a 16 year old girl is distraut and holding a gun to her head threatning to kill herself. You are the first Officer on scene and backup is minutes away, what do you do? My first response was- Seek cover! lol then I would try to talk to the girl and get her mind off of whatever it was that was driving her to hold the gun to her head. Try to reason with her and let her know she has options. The board then added to it and said: Now your backup arrives and the girl decides to point the firearm at your partner, what do you do? Without skipping a beat I said, "I drop her!" needless to say the room got pretty quiet and I thought for sure I completely screwed the pooch, but surprisingly when the interview was over the recruiter walked out with me smiling and when I asked if I was doomed she said, "You know, we interview a lot of people and I have heard everything from I would talk her down or I would pepper spray her, but never has anyone ever said they would drop her, that was the best answer yet. lol The next day I got the job offer. 
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I had an oral board question pop up one time that went something like this: You respond to a suicide call where a 16 year old girl is distraut and holding a gun to her head threatning to kill herself. You are the first Officer on scene and backup is minutes away, what do you do? My first response was- Seek cover! lol then I would try to talk to the girl and get her mind off of whatever it was that was driving her to hold the gun to her head. Try to reason with her and let her know she has options. The board then added to it and said: Now your backup arrives and the girl decides to point the firearm at your partner, what do you do? Without skipping a beat I said, "I drop her!" needless to say the room got pretty quiet and I thought for sure I completely screwed the pooch, but surprisingly when the interview was over the recruiter walked out with me smiling and when I asked if I was doomed she said, "You know, we interview a lot of people and I have heard everything from I would talk her down or I would pepper spray her, but never has anyone ever said they would drop her, that was the best answer yet. lol The next day I got the job offer. Just because they want to harm themselves doesn't mean they won't harm anyone else. Also, if they are threatening suicide, they probably aren't very stable and don't have much to lose. Good answer. |
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I had an oral board question pop up one time that went something like this: You respond to a suicide call where a 16 year old girl is distraut and holding a gun to her head threatning to kill herself. You are the first Officer on scene and backup is minutes away, what do you do? My first response was- Seek cover! lol then I would try to talk to the girl and get her mind off of whatever it was that was driving her to hold the gun to her head. Try to reason with her and let her know she has options. The board then added to it and said: Now your backup arrives and the girl decides to point the firearm at your partner, what do you do? Without skipping a beat I said, "I drop her!" needless to say the room got pretty quiet and I thought for sure I completely screwed the pooch, but surprisingly when the interview was over the recruiter walked out with me smiling and when I asked if I was doomed she said, "You know, we interview a lot of people and I have heard everything from I would talk her down or I would pepper spray her, but never has anyone ever said they would drop her, that was the best answer yet. lol The next day I got the job offer. At my recent interview I had a very similar question and I answered the same way. One of the panel members slammed her fists on the table as soon as I said it and I thought for sure i was screwed. She then said, "you are the first person to answer that correctly. Great job." |
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Here's a couple that I was asked: What are your greatest strengths? What is your biggest weakness? Tell me about a problem you had with a past supervisor, and what you did to resolve the issue. Where do you see yourself in five years? What would you do if you were given an order (legal) by a command officer that you completely disagreed with? This must be MI thing, every interview I have been to they have asked those exact questions. |
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Ok, another new question.
You are on a traffic stop with a drunk driver. You are about to put the cuffs on when 2 calls come out. One is a cardiac arrest and the other is a domestic between a father and a daughter. There is only one other officer on. What do you do? |
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How did you answer the last one? You asking about the one if you disagreed with a command officer's order? I said that as long as the order is legal and that it doesn't put anyone in danger I would obey the command and listen to him/her. I said that later on I could talk to him/her about why I disagreed with what they did, but at that moment it's not the time to argue with a supervisor. I said that they are in that position to give orders and that is how the chain of command works... They seemed to like that answer.. |
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Ok, another new question. You are on a traffic stop with a drunk driver. You are about to put the cuffs on when 2 calls come out. One is a cardiac arrest and the other is a domestic between a father and a daughter. There is only one other officer on. What do you do? Not a cop but... Take the drunk's keys, and already have his information, so he's not going to skate. Then go to either the cardiac or the DV (depending on where the other officer's headed). Only two of these calls involve imminent danger to citizens. |
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I had an oral board question pop up one time that went something like this: You respond to a suicide call where a 16 year old girl is distraut and holding a gun to her head threatning to kill herself. You are the first Officer on scene and backup is minutes away, what do you do? My first response was- Seek cover! lol then I would try to talk to the girl and get her mind off of whatever it was that was driving her to hold the gun to her head. Try to reason with her and let her know she has options. The board then added to it and said: Now your backup arrives and the girl decides to point the firearm at your partner, what do you do? Without skipping a beat I said, "I drop her!" needless to say the room got pretty quiet and I thought for sure I completely screwed the pooch, but surprisingly when the interview was over the recruiter walked out with me smiling and when I asked if I was doomed she said, "You know, we interview a lot of people and I have heard everything from I would talk her down or I would pepper spray her, but never has anyone ever said they would drop her, that was the best answer yet. lol The next day I got the job offer. At my recent interview I had a very similar question and I answered the same way. One of the panel members slammed her fists on the table as soon as I said it and I thought for sure i was screwed. She then said, "you are the first person to answer that correctly. Great job." Did you hear how you did yet? I am #1 on the list for my agency, next opening I get hired.
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I had one question that was something like this....you come up on a robbery scene and your FTO decides to grab a Pepsi out of fridge there and down it without paying for it. What would you do? I had one similar to this one, and some others...... Your riding with your FTO, it's a quiet night, nothing is going on. Your FTO says he's tired and needs to take a nap, so he pulls the patrol car into a deserted parking light, tells you to just hang ten and proceeds to take a nap. What do you do? I said that at that point in time of my career I believe I would of been issued or read the Department SOP, and hopefully an issue like this would be covered as to what the procedures would be, so I would refer to the Departments SOP. If no such SOP was in place, I would use common sense and advised my FTO to just take me back to the station so I could work on some paperwork, and he could safely take a nap there. You are given an order to do something that you do not agree with by a supervisor, what do you do? I answered that it would depend on whether or not I believed the order to be a illegal/unconstitutional vs immoral/against personal beliefs vs unsafe/dangerous to myself/LE's or to the public, and answered each one in more depth. There were many more but I can not remember them right now. Best thing is to relax and use common sense and answer them honestly. They are trying to figure out what kind of person you are and what your thinking process is like. BT |
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I had one question that was something like this....you come up on a robbery scene and your FTO decides to grab a Pepsi out of fridge there and down it without paying for it. What would you do? And how did you answer? Document and file a report with IA back at the office. Nothing I can do at the moment. Dont join in and drink a Pepsi...of course.
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Every officer at my agency was asked this quesion:
You and your partner seize 10 cases of beer from an underage party. At the station you notice your partner has only turned in 9 cases to the evidence room. What do you do? My answer was ask him about it, I'm not going to take it to IA and ruin his career because he miscounted unloading the car. |
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Its nice to see how other people answer questions that you have had. It makes for a good learning experience.
I have to admit, this waiting period for the background to get done and have the final interview is killing me. I really want to get it done and figure out if I get the job or not. |
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Its nice to see how other people answer questions that you have had. It makes for a good learning experience. I have to admit, this waiting period for the background to get done and have the final interview is killing me. I really want to get it done and figure out if I get the job or not. Isn't it fun, they really make it like trying to get into a secret club or something.... 
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