A Guide to the Police Scotland Assessment Centres Process
The Assessment Centre is held at a range of Police Scotland venues across the country and involves you participating in no more than three exercises.
Each of the exercises test you against the Police Scotland Competencies and Values Framework and all of the Competencies and Values are assessed in the Assessment Centre.
The exercises have been developed to assess your potential to become a Police Officer and whilst the exercises have a policing or societal context you do not need policing or legal knowledge or experience to succeed.
The morning of the Assessment Centre involves three parts, an icebreaker activity, which is not assessed, and two group exercises.
Whilst the icebreaker is not assessed it is considered important to create a positive first impression and get off to a confident start.
The icebreaker is followed by a Group Exercise combining your reading, comprehension, discussion (and listening) and briefing skills. The format is as follows:
The second group exercise is a Situational Judgment Exercise. The exercise unfolds as follows:
· All your group will be given verbally a developing, hypothetical policing scenario.
· You will then be asked individually about your considerations and intended course of action.
Unlike the first group exercise this is a reactive exercise with no time for reading or comprehension. The exercise takes 40 minutes.
If you are successful in the morning, you will progress to the afternoon stage of the assessment day and the Competency Based Interview.
Police Scotland kindly provide you a lunch before the Assessment continues with the Competency Based Interview which lasts 20 minutes and contains four questions.
Each question relates to a competency within the Police Scotland Competency and Values Framework. The competency being assessed will be indicated to you when you are given the question.