If you are currently serving as an officer from a Non-Home Office police, such as the British Transport Police (BTP), the Ministry of Defence Police (MOd), the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC), or the National Crime Agency (NCA), then please click the link below to apply.
Frequently asked questions
Officers may join at the pay point commensurate to length of service previously completed in that rank.
Officers may carry over continuous service from a Non-Home Office force and annual leave entitlements will therefore be in line with length of service.
Yes – you will be entitled to carry over your service from a Non-Home Office force.
Under most circumstances, your pensionable service is directly transferable from one Force to another. Therefore, your pension transfers across with you. So long as you do not have a gap in your service your transfer will remain as continuous service.
If you are applying as a transferee to Devon & Cornwall or Dorset Police, you should not resign from your current Force until you have completed all aspects of the selection process and received written confirmation of a start date and posting. Your resignation should be effective from midnight preceding your date for joining Devon & Cornwall or Dorset Police. This will ensure that there is no break in service, and that your rights are continued.
Any national qualifications, for example NPPF, will be recognised once you have supplied evidence of your result. Other qualifications will be looked at and countersigned if the skill / qualification is equal to our standards. In some cases, the skill may need to be reassessed, for example driving.
Officers who are currently serving within a Non-Home Office force can apply to join at a higher rank, provided they have already achieved recognised legislative exams for this rank and are substantive in the role within their current force.
Officers who are currently serving within a Non-Home Office force are permitted to apply whilst still in probation.
When completing your online application, you will need some personal information, such as:
- Your Driving Licence Number
- Your National Insurance Number
- Details of your home addresses for the last 5 years
If you have questions that aren’t answered on this page then you can email us at:
We endeavour to respond to you within five working days during normal office hours, Monday to Thursday 9am–4pm and Friday 9am–3pm.
If you encounter technical difficulties during your assessment, please contact the College of Policing who will assist in resolving the issue.
You may also contact recruit@college.pnn.police.uk if you feel your assessment was impacted due to the technical issues.
If you have any technical questions relating to the online application form behaviour styles questionnaire or situational judgement test, please use the self-help links on the left hand menu of the e-recruitment system.
If you are still unable to resolve the issue this way then you can email us at Alliance Resourcing.
We will try to respond to you within five working days during normal office hours, Monday to Thursday 9am–4pm and Friday 9am–3pm.
At the end of each element of the online process you will receive an email to check the e-recruitment system for the update. You are encouraged to ensure you have amended your filter settings, as emails can be sent to your junk mail by your spam software.
We will need to assess the motoring offences. However, if you have more than six penalty points on your driving licence and/or two or more motoring offences within the three years prior to the application date you may not be eligible to join as a student officer.
If you have been unsuccessful at the national sift or online assessment centre within the last three months (based on the date you were notified of the outcome of the process) you will be able to apply but your application would be held in abeyance until the 3 months have elapsed.
No - All newly recruited Police Officers must undergo a probationary period, so you could not apply for any specialist posts until you have completed this.
The process can take up between 4 and 6 months to complete, depending on the recruitment process.
For Devon & Cornwall Police applicants, initial training will be completed at Police Headquarters, Middlemoor, Exeter. For Dorset Police applicants, initial training will be completed at Ferndown Initial Training Facility and Police Headquarters, Winfrith.
Candidates from a Non-Home Office police force or the National Crime Agency (NCA), for example, should be considered a new recruit and would, therefore, be expected to undertake an initial learning programme, either the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme (IPLDP) (where applicable) or an appropriate Policing Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF) entry programme, subject to the provisions of the determination under regulations.
Dorset/Devon and Cornwall police no longer run IPLDP, therefore you will be expected to achieve the Post Graduate Diploma in Professional Policing or the vocational degree in policing and professional practice, via a 2- or 3-year programme respectively. The current entry routes for Devon & Cornwall and Dorset Police are as follows:
- Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship, also known as PCDA: 3 Year Programme.
- Degree Holder Entry Programme, also known as DHEP: 2 Year Programme
- Professional Policing Degree (PPD)
Candidates who have already completed their initial training in a non-Home Office force may not have covered, either through training or experience in role, the learning outcomes of either IPLDP or the PEQF. In this instance, where possible, on a individual, case-by-case basis, training requirements would be assessed and delivered as soon as possible on commencement in role.
If you have previous home office experience and have completed your probation period, you may be eligible to apply via our re-joiner entry route.
While diagnostic assessments for neurodiverse conditions are helpful in providing an accurate picture of an individual’s abilities, it is recognised that there can be barriers in obtaining such assessments, for example the cost of reports.
Therefore, in support of an application for reasonable adjustments, alternative forms of supporting information, completed by suitably trained and qualified individuals, will be accepted, for candidates who have a neurodiverse condition but do not yet have a diagnostic report. These alternatives include:
- Evidence of exam/assessment access arrangements obtained while in education (known as Form 8).
- Evidence of Disabled Students Allowance report.
- Evidence of Study Aid and Strategies report completed while in education.
- Evidence of Workplace needs assessment report.
Please note: In cases where supporting information does not provide specific personal recommendations for assessments, it is likely standard reasonable adjustments will be offered, which have been found to be helpful for candidates who experience this neurodiversity.
Approximate Recruitment Structure
Following submission of your form and successfully passing the national sift (if applicable), your application you will go through a review. This will be a quality assurance review of eligibility which will include convictions and tattoos. This stage can take time to complete and there may be a need to contact you for further information to complete this stage. Once this stage has been completed the e-recruitment portal will be updated with your next stage, which will be Assessment Centre Ready (if applicable) or Force Interview
If you have not previously passed the College of Policing standard recruitment assessment, either the current Online Assessment Centre or the former SEARCH® or Day One assessment centre, as part of a previous recruitment process; there is an expectation that you complete this part of the process as part of recruitment to a Home Office police force. If you have previously passed this, you will need to provide evidence of this.
The national sift will allow you to demonstrate your suitability for entry to the next stage of the recruitment process. The 2 exercises within the sift are used to assess capabilities, strengths and behaviours that are important within the role.
Situational judgement test (SJT)
The SJT assesses your judgement and decision-making skills in relation to job-relevant situations. In the exercise, you will be presented with a series of scenarios that reflect challenging situations you may face when working in the role. For each scenario, you will be presented with four possible actions that could be taken. You will be asked to rate each of the four actions in terms of its effectiveness in addressing the scenario.
Behavioural styles questionnaire (BSQ)
The BSQ measures your typical behaviour and preferences at work. The purpose of the questionnaire is to assess whether you have the right behaviours and attitudes to be effective in the role. You will be presented with a series of statements and asked to decide the extent to which you agree or disagree with each statement.
You will automatically be resulted if you have been unsuccessful.
You will not be eligible to apply to become a police officer for 3 months following the result.
National Sift Candidate guidance can be found by clicking here.
Online Assessment Centre Following submission of your application you will be invited by email to complete the College of Policing online assessment. This online process is a series of stages containing exercises that test the key competencies and values that are important for police constables. The Competency and Values Framework (CVF) sets out the behaviours expected of everyone working in policing.
The video below will give you a step by step guide of what to expect from the new College of Policing’s virtual assessment centre. Once you have watched the video please ensure you read all of the steps below.
The online assessment process is a staged process that consists of up to four exercises over three stages. The process is broken up as follows:
Candidates who pass stage 1 are invited to take stage 2 immediately.
You will be asked 5 questions about how you have dealt with specific situations in the past. This is your opportunity to provide some examples of the key competencies and values that are important for police constables. You can use examples from both your work and your personal life.
You will have five minutes for each questions.
Candidates are provided with one minute preparation before each question.
Approximate time to complete: 35 minutes
How will I get my results?
Stage 2: Interview – the content will be reviewed by a qualified assessor. Your result will be communicated to you via email.
Written exercise – Candidates will be provided with written materials outlining a scenario in the community. They will have various sources of information and will be asked to provide typed written responses to their sergeant in relation to the issues contained in the materials. This exercise lasts approximately 50 minutes.
Briefing exercise – Candidates will be presented with a short brief of a community-based scenario and they will have time to prepare their responses to key questions. The scenario will evolve and additional information will be presented to the candidate for them to consider and respond to. Candidates’ verbal responses to the questions will be recorded. This exercise lasts approximately 60 minutes.
Stage 3: Written exercise and briefing exercise – both exercises will be reviewed by a qualified assessor and your result will be communicated to you via email.
If successful at the Assessment Centre you will then be required to complete a local force interview. This will be a structured interview with a panel of interviewers consisting of Police Officers and Staff.
The interview is expected to last up to 30 minutes. The questions in the interview are aimed at exploring your values and motivation to join as a Constable, these will be structured against the role profile for a Police Constable based on the Competency Valued Framework. We will also take Biometric Vetting samples.
The Recruitment Team will advise of what is required as your application progresses.
A comprehensive evaluation of your professional development needs against the role offered will be completed by our Learning & Development department, in order for your training requirements to be determined.
The police Job Related Fitness Test (JRFT) is a critical component of the recruitment and deployment of police officers. The core rational for the test is to ensure that prospective police officers have a minimum level of fitness to be able to undertake personal safety training. The fitness test is benchmarked against the aerobic demands of Personal Safety Training (PST) and comprises of an aerobic shuttle run test (15m Multi Stage Fitness Test – 15m MSFT at level 5:4).
A medical assessment will be carried out by our Occupational Health Support Unit. They will check the following:
- BMI (Body Mass Index)
- Eye sight test – see Appendices
- Colour vision – see Appendices
- Lung function
- Hearing
You will be asked to complete a confidential medical history questionnaire. You are advised not to pay for your GP to sign these forms until you know you have been successful though the earlier stages. Depending upon your medical history, we may have to contact your GP/ specialist for further information.
Once you have been declared medically fit we will then progress your application to the next stage.
For further information on the national standards please see here
Vetting:
The vetting process is entirely confidential and the outcomes (other than pass/fail) are not shared with anyone else in the organisation (including trainers, future line managers or fellow trainees) or anyone outside of the organisation (including family).
We will carry out security checks on you and your:
- Spouse/Partner
- Father
- Step father/mother’s partner
- Mother
- Stepmother/father’s partner
- Brothers/sisters (full/half/step)
- Children/children of your partner (only those age 10 years and over)
- Any other adult living at your address
- Financial circumstances – applicants will have their financial status checked
These checks are carried out because Police Officers have access to privileged information, which may make them vulnerable to corruption.
Applicants with outstanding County Court Judgements (CCJs), Individual Voluntary Agreements (IVAs) or who have been registered bankrupt with outstanding debts, will be rejected. If you have discharged bankruptcy debts then you will need to provide a Certificate of Satisfaction with your application. At least three years will need to have passed since the date of discharge.
Applicants with cautions/convictions/reprimands, other than some motoring offences, may not be accepted.
References:
We send reference requests to all your previous employers in the last 3 years. If you haven’t been employed for 3 years, we will ask for an educational reference if applicable.
Drugs Testing:
As part of the Vetting process you will be required to undergo drugs testing. All drug testing processes are entirely confidential and only the presence of illegal substances will be disclosed to the Force Vetting Unit (by the third party drug testing laboratory). Prescribed medication, including that for individuals with certain disabilities or individuals that may be transitioning, is not tested for in the process.
You are formally offered a job and provided with a start date.