Police Inspector Aptitude case studies
Police Inspector Aptitude · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Police Inspector Aptitude assessment is a promotion-stage evaluation for police officers seeking to move into the rank of inspector, a role that shifts the emphasis from supervising constables to leading teams, managing resources, and making consequential operational decisions. This page is an independent study resource: it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or published by the College of Policing or any police force, and it does not reproduce any official question bank. Candidates typically encounter the assessment as a combination of a knowledge-based examination and a leadership or evidence-based component, though the precise structure varies by force and by the assessment route used. Preparation should be built around the four domains this page is provisionally organised into: leadership and management of people; operational policing and decision-making; professional standards and ethics; and communication and partnership working. The Police Inspector Aptitude case studies are 5 cases and about 3,542 words.
1Inheriting a fractured response team
You have just taken command of a 16-officer response team in a busy borough. The team is running at 60% abstract capacity: four officers are on restricted duties after injuries, two are abstractions to a court liaison unit, and the only substantive sergeant has been on long-term sick leave for seven weeks.
776 words, about 4 min2Cup final, counter-demonstration and a missing child
You are the duty inspector on a Saturday afternoon. A football match at a 20,000-seat stadium kicks off in 90 minutes; 2,000 away fans are arriving by train.
689 words, about 3 min3The body-worn video that the sergeant wants buried
You are the duty inspector at a busy custody suite. A sergeant shows you body-worn video from an incident two hours earlier.
733 words, about 4 min4The hotel room and the missing 15-year-old
You chair a multi-agency safeguarding meeting about Chloe, aged 15. In the last six weeks she has been reported missing three times.
651 words, about 3 min5Man on the bridge, live-streaming
You are the duty inspector at 03:10. A 28-year-old man is standing on the wrong side of the railings of a bridge over a dual carriageway and a railway line.
693 words, about 3 min