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Applications are only available when we are recruiting for police officers.
Before you apply, check that recruitment is open and that you are eligible to apply.
Your application will go through a formal papersift process. This includes the marking of competency-based answers.
The national sift consists of two exercises testing the competencies and values that are important for the role of police constable. You will be asked to complete a situational judgement test (SJT) and a behavioural-style questionnaire
If you are successful at the national sift, you will be invited to attend an online assessment process with the College of Policing. The College of Policing online assessments have been developed to enable effective assessment of the required competencies and values that are important for police constables.
The exercises that you will need to undertake as part of the assessment process are:
You will be given sufficient time to prepare in advance of any assessment and be provided with all the information that you will need. You will be provided with your result approximately three to four weeks after your assessment. You can find the latest news and updates relating to assessment activity on the College of Policing website
If you pass at the assessment centre, we will invite you to an interview with us at Lincolnshire Police.
You should carry out research on Lincolnshire Police and policing issues in the county. You should show why you have applied to become a police constable and why you wish to serve with Lincolnshire Police.
The interview will be based around the Competencies and Values Framework.
If you pass the interview, we will invite you to a fitness test at Police Headquarters in Nettleham, Lincoln.
The test is a bleep test in a 15-metre gymnasium. You must reach at least level 5.4.
Access a recording of the bleep test from the College of Policing website.
See a video on how to pass the fitness test at the bottom of the page.
We will ask you to complete a medical history questionnaire and attend a medical appointment. This is with our force physician in Lincoln. It will include a medical examination, eyesight and hearing test.
We will conduct comprehensive vetting checks and request references covering the past five years.
We will conduct police checks on you, your immediate family and any adult living at the same address as you. We will also request National Security Vetting and carry out financial checks. We do this to ensure that Lincolnshire Police employ people with the highest levels of integrity, who can behave professionally at all times, as the public would expect from the service.
The vetting process is entirely confidential, and you will be required to provide details of the following persons:
The vetting checks look for any previous behaviour (for both the applicant and family/associates) which may present a risk to the force. As an officer you will be in a privileged position, with access to police premises, assets and information, therefore it is necessary that we conduct appropriate checks prior to your joining. We will look at your previous arrests, cautions, convictions, investigations that you may have been part of, penalty notices intelligence etc. We will also check that you are not in a vulnerable position, whether this be financially or otherwise.
The information is reviewed by our vetting team, and a decision will be made surrounding your suitability for the role. Without vetting clearance, you will not be able to progress with your application.
Further information about the vetting process, and what is involved can be found on the Joining the police website.
If you have any queries regarding your suitability, please call the PC Recruitment team on the number at the bottom of this page.
We will take samples of your DNA and fingerprints and check against outstanding crimes. We do this before we make a provisional offer.
We will request references from all your employers and educational establishments for the last five years. We will not take a reference from your current employer at this stage, unless you specify that they can be.
You will need to account for any gaps in your employment or education history, if this falls within the past five years.
When all the necessary checks are complete, we will write to you to confirm your acceptance.
Your application is held until we have confirmation of a start date as a police constable. Your appointment is subject to your continued suitability.
Find out more at the Joining the Police website
Or contact the Resource and Succession Planning Team:
Lincolnshire Police Headquarters
PO Box 999
Lincoln
LN5 7PH
Tel: 01522 558235
Email: [email protected]
You'll be given 12 questions to answer each with four options. You choose the response you think is best for the situation. It should take around 30 minutes to complete but you'll have two hours.
Once you pass the online assessment the next step to becoming a police officer is the fitness test.
It's simply to test you've got the basic level of fitness needed to be a police officer, not an Olympic athlete.
It involves a multi-stage run known as the bleep test. It takes 3 minutes and 35 seconds and is made up of 35 15-metre shuttle runs between two points. You'll hear a bleep at set intervals. You need to reach the other side before the next bleep. The bleeps speed up during the test.
Your running speed will start at 7.9 kilometres per hour and will increase to 9.9 kilometres per hour, which means you'll end up running the 15 metre stretch in five to six seconds by the end of the test.
Think you're not fit enough? Don't worry, it's not super hard as long as you're reasonably fit and do some training in advance you should be absolutely fine.
Let's take a look at the best way to train.
Focus on exercise activities that increase your cardiovascular fitness, for example running. Regular runs build up your heart and lung capacity and your leg muscles.
Try a mix of interval training and steady running.
With interval training, warm up for 5 minutes followed by 30 seconds hard sprint then 30 seconds of walking. Do this 10 times then cool down.
Interval training simulates what your body will go through in the bleep test.
With steady running, warm up for five minutes followed by running at a steady pace for a few minutes eventually building up to around 15 minutes, then cool down.
It's good to include some 180-degree turns into your runs. That's where you pivot and run the other way. That's because you'll be running back and forth between two points in the bleep test rather than in a straight line
And you can mix up running with other aerobic exercise like swimming, rowing, cycling and cross trainer. These all use large muscle groups and are great for building up your heart and lung capacity but as the test is running based make sure you're building up your leg muscles. Running really should make up the bulk of your training.
Here's some of our top training tips
Looking for some extra support? Here are some handy training resources.
Search fifteen metre bleep test on i-Tunes, Google Play and You Tube and try the NHS couch to 5k app.
Remember you don't need to be superhuman to pass the fitness test.
Follow our training tips and you should be able to pass no problem.
Best of luck.
All police officers need to be fit and healthy so they can meet the demands of a rewarding but challenging job.
Once you pass the online assessment process you'll take the fitness test and you'll undergo a medical assessment.
You'll complete a confidential health declaration. We also need to check your hearing, eyesight, height, weight and body mass index, blood pressure, lung capacity and urine.
So let's see how to give yourself the best chance of passing the medical assessment
You need to be able to hear your colleagues and members of the public and hear what's being said on your radio, even when it's really noisy. Here are our top tips:
If you do have any hearing issues that doesn't mean you can't pass. You might just need a specialist review
You need eyesight that's good enough to be able to defend yourself in a tight situation even if you lose your glasses or lenses. Here are our top tips:
If you're overweight you'll find it harder to pass the fitness test and cope with patrols. If you're underweight you could lack the muscle bulk you need to pass the fitness test and cope with the demands of the job.
Here are our top tips:
Smokers are more likely to have heart and lung problems which make it difficult to pass the fitness test. Here are our top tips:
Drinking too much can cause high blood pressure. Over time your arteries are more likely to get clogged up and your heart could be weakened. Here are our top tips:
Taking drugs such as cannabis ecstasy and cocaine is illegal and as a police officer you must uphold the law. That's why you'll be tested for drugs as part of the medical test. Here's our top tip
Do you have any existing health conditions? Don't worry, it doesn't mean you can't become a police officer. For example if you have
Here are our top tips:
And that's it we hope that's helped prepare you for your medical assessment.
Best of luck.
Getting to the vetting stage of the recruitment process is a huge achievement, so well done
You're just one step away from becoming a police officer.
You now need to pass the vetting stage of the recruitment process.
It's a very thorough process involving detailed background checks plus fingerprinting and DNA checks with your consent
Why is it necessary?
It's because police officers are in a position of trust, so we need officers who are 100% honest and trustworthy with the highest levels of integrity who aren't vulnerable to blackmail or corruption.
So what's involved in vetting?
We'll ask you about your previous names and any aliases that you've used and your address history for the last five years.
Why?
We need to confirm your identity and eligibility to work in the UK. We'll also ask you about your finances. We'll ask
Why?
We need to assess how vulnerable you could be to bribery or corruption. It's important to note that we don't base our assessment on the amount of debt you might have. We're assessing your ability to manage it well. We'll also ask you about your family and friends. We'll ask about your partner and their address history for the last five years, your parents and your partner's parents, your full, half and step siblings, your children if they're over 10 years of age and we’ll ask about all co-residents at your current address like lodgers or
other family members.
Why?
We need to assess whether they have any criminal convictions and if so whether you could be vulnerable to corruption or coercion.
We'll ask you about
Why?
We need to consider the potential for embarrassment to be caused to our force or the police service. We also need to consider your credibility and whether there's a potential for information to be leaked or for you to be put under pressure by associates.
So what are the most common errors on the vetting forms?
It's good to assume all previous contact will be on our system. If you don't declare it, it raises questions around your honesty and integrity.
Here are two key things to get right
And that's it. We hope that's helped you prepare for the vetting stage of your application process. Best of luck.