I had a police oral board recently and I was told I did a good job. I felt real good about my chances. I was extremely confident, wore a suit, was squared away, well groomed, shook the hand of each and every member and thanked them for taking time out to present me with this opportunity. Everyone was male and were addressed as 'sir' during the interview. I tried to be enthusiastic as possible and told them repeatedly I was passionate for the job. My result was a 70. How can I be knocked down 30 points if I did a good job? Here are some responses.

Q1- While riding to a serious traffic accident you receive a call of a violent crime in process, what do you do? You are also the only officer on duty.
A- I originally said I would call for back up and proceed to the violent crime in process, but one of the panel members told me I was the only officer on duty which I neglected to hear at first, but still did not really change my answer that much. I said I would call back up from a neighboring department to attend to the traffic accident and to attend to the violent crime in progress.

Q2-What skills should an officer possess?
A-I said something about communication skills and critical thinking skills because police officers are required to make split second decisions in stressful enviornments and need to effectively communicate their response to the public if called to a situation.
I think I kinda messed this up. I wanted to say police officers should possess a diversified set of skills to help them adapt to various situations which can change in a matter of seconds.

Q3- You see an officer steal something while in a store, what do you do?
A3- I said to confront him outside about what he took and why he took the item. I would recommned for him to return the item and report it to the sergeant himself. I would then follow up by reporting it to the sergeant after a reasonable time frame. I think I probably should have confronted him on the scene

Q4- Officer uses excessive force on a handcuffed suspect in custody, what do you do?
A4- I said if the individual was already securely handcuffed I would intervene and tell him to stop you are using excessive force. I would then place the suspect into the patrol car and then confront the officer more in depth about the situation. I would recommend he report it to the sergeant and I would put it in my police report.

Q5- Guy is complaining his car is being vandalized and this is about his 8 th complaint, he is growing restless and wants something done, what do you do?
A5- I said I would take his report and ensure him we would do everything in our power to identify the cause of vandalism. I would compare his report with reports that other police officers took from him. I would look for similarities and perhaps be able to request a patrol during a certain time of day.
Looking back I think this was a bad response. I could have at least calmed him down, ask him if he knew anyone that would be doing this, etc. Maybe even recommend moving his car into a garage or install cameras outside.

Most of the other questions were about my qualifications which I will just have to go into more detail with. I am a college grad and did an internship with a police dept so I can expand upon that more. I wanted to submit these questions to get an idea where I could be scoring low and where I can direct my attention to. If these questions were fine then I will have to focus on questions about my personal qualifications and just try to sell myself better.

Thanks for any feedback you can give me. I do talk with my hands a lot, I am not sure if that is good or bad.

First off, I am not an officer, but an applicant who is going through the process at this time (about to do a written test). Don't take my word for it, but for Q3, I would just report it to the supervizing officer because this is something very serious. For Q4, I would do the same thing simply because I think it is a bad to mention to the police officer that he is using excessive force in the presence of a suspect. This could give the suspect some reasons to sue the department.

I would like to hear correct responses to other questions because I will be having an oral interview later myself.

I think you are exactly right. I was torn what to say at the time. We were taught to have the officer report it first but after talking to a few people, it appears that you should just report it yourself so you are covered. Thanks. I probably should just take more time answering the questions too. I am so inclined to answer right away to show I know my stuff.

Your score of 70 could be based on many things. Maybe they panel were just tough with scoring. With Q2 you could have been more specific. What communication, critiacl thinking, or diversified skills were you referring to??? With Q3 some officers might prefer you to speak to the other officer, tell him that you would have to report the incident to the supervisor, and then do so ASAP. Your answer to Q4 sounds good except for the part about announcing "excessive force". You would also be obligated to speak to the supervisor about the incident. Your thoughts on Q5 are correct. Your answers were probably no worse than most others that went through the board.

Thanks. Very helpful. If you know of anything that they would deduct points off of other than the questions please let me know. Regardless of the score, I still want to answer questions to the best of my ability to give myself the best chance. I appreciate your feedback.