Date Posted: 28-Apr-2005

Plan your career

The High Potential Development Scheme The High Potential Development Scheme aims to support and develop the future leaders of the police service. It replaces the accelerated promotion scheme. The scheme is very different from its predecessor. No formal qualifications, such as a university degree, are needed to apply for the scheme, which is open to anyone in the rank of chief inspector or below. Instead the scheme looks at an individual’s aptitude and attitude to succeed. Having said that, there is an academic aspect to the scheme and officers can gain a higher degree in police leadership.

Police specialisms There are hundreds of different roles within the police service. These include CID, Special Branch, Dog Handling, Mounted Police, River Police, Underwater Units, Firearms Units, Mobile Police Support Units, Drug Squads, Crime Prevention, Operations Room, Child Protection Units and Roads Planning to name but a few. Officers can specialise in an area that interests them as soon as they have completed their probationary period, although some areas of policing are more popular than others and competition to get into certain departments is tough. Selection criteria There are no national selection criteria for police specialisms. Selection for the various specialisms varies from force to force and those interested are advised to contact their own human resources department. General criteria for specialisms are laid down in some of the manuals of guidance produced by the Association of Chief Police Officers, but they are only a rough guide for forces.

Police promotion exams When an officer successfully completes their probationary period they are eligible to sit the police examinations to become a police sergeant.

Promotion to sergeant and inspector: The process of becoming a police sergeant or, once a sergeant, an inspector is the same. Promotion to either rank can only be achieved through passing the police exams. In 1991, the Objective Structured Performance Related Examination (OSPRE) was introduced into the police service as a way of testing officers’ potential to be promoted to a higher rank.

Centrex, the official body in charge of police training, oversees and now organises the exams which are in two parts and can be sat once a year. The examination includes both a theory and a practical element to ensure officers have the legal knowledge as well as the appropriate management and supervisory skills to carry out the role of sergeant or inspector.

Part I OSPRE examination

Candidates sit a three-hour paper and answer a maximum number of 150 multiple-choice questions on all aspects of the law. The pass requirement has changed recently from a set percentage of candidates passing annually to a set pass mark. That pass mark is 55 per cent for sergeants and 65 per cent for inspectors.

Candidates must pass Part I before they can take Part II, which they must take within 12 months of gaining their Part I, or at the earliest opportunity.

Candidates must pass Part II of the examination within five years of passing Part I, otherwise they must take Part I again.

Candidates have three attempts to pass Part II before they must sit Part I again.

Part II OSPRE examination

The second part of the examination tests officers’ potential to manage and supervise others. It takes one and a half hours to complete. The pass mark is 45 per cent for both the sergeants’ and the inspectors’ exams.

Candidates are allocated individual 'offices'. They have 45 minutes’ preparation time after which they participate in a series of live scenarios involving role actors. Their performance is examined by a series of assessors.

For both ranks, the assessment teams are drawn from a bank of specially trained serving police officers and police staff. A maximum number of 56 candidates can be processed by one assessment team in the course of a day. There are usually two teams at each Part II venue.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) OSPRE is a 'national' system used by all forces in England and Wales as well as by the PSNI, but there is no 'national' examination covering all.

The PSNI, which has its own bespoke examinations and assessment centres governed by the PSNI Examinations Board, is under no obligation to follow what happens in England and Wales. This board is made up of representatives from senior PSNI management, the Northern Ireland Policing Board, the Superintendents’ Association and the Police Federation for Northern Ireland.