Police Inspector Aptitude cheat sheet

Situational leadership: match direction and support to follower competence and commitment - high direction with low support for new or unwilling staff, coaching (high/high) for developing staff, low direction with high support for capable but variable staff, delegation for proven staff.

Tuckman's stages - forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning - each require different leader input; storming is normal and is managed, not suppressed.

SMART objectives: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound; performance reviews require documented evidence against agreed objectives rather than opinion.

Grievance and discipline are separate processes: a grievance is a complaint by an employee, discipline is an allegation against an employee; a grievance about the same facts can run in parallel but should not be decided by the same uninvolved manager twice.

ACAS principles: investigate before deciding, allow the employee to be accompanied at formal hearings, give the right of appeal, keep written records, and act within reasonable timescales.

Maslow and Herzberg are hygiene/needs models: pay and conditions prevent dissatisfaction but do not motivate; recognition, responsibility and advancement do.

Delegation requires authority, resources, a clear standard and a deadline; accountability for the outcome stays with the delegating manager.

Span of control and task/relationship balance: a leader overloaded with operational tasks loses oversight, so supervision time must be protected in the duty roster.

National Decision Model (NDM) stages: Code of Ethics (values and standards) → gather information and intelligence → assess threat and risk and develop a working strategy → consider powers and policy → identify options and contingencies → take action and review.

THRIVE risk assessment: Threat, Harm, Risk, Investigation opportunities, Vulnerability, Engagement - used to prioritise and to decide the policing response.

The NDM is a continuous loop, not a one-off form; review is mandatory when circumstances change or new information arrives.

Use of force: force must be lawful, necessary and proportionate; the minimum force needed to achieve the lawful objective is the standard, and every use of force must be recorded.

Police powers are statutory and must be identified before action: stop and search, entry, arrest, detention and search each require their own legal basis and recorded grounds.

Containment and cordon logic: inner cordon controls the scene, outer cordon controls access, and a rendezvous point (RVP) keeps arriving resources from contaminating the scene.

Decision logs record what was known, what was considered, what was decided and why - written contemporaneously or as soon as practicable after the event.

Critical incident management: command is split into strategic, tactical and operational tiers; the strategic commander sets parameters and the tactical commander delivers the plan.

Code of Ethics policing principles: honesty and integrity, fairness and impartiality, respect, transparency, accountability, and the duty to uphold the law.

The standards of professional behaviour cover honesty and integrity, authority, respect and courtesy, equality and diversity, use of force, orders and instructions, duties and responsibilities, confidentiality, fitness for duty, and discreditable conduct.

Corruption categories: active (seeking a bribe), passive (accepting one), and the broader misconduct in public office and improper disclosure of information offences.

The test for misconduct is objective: would a reasonable person, with knowledge of the facts, consider the conduct to have fallen below the expected standard? Gross misconduct justifies dismissal.

Declaring a conflict of interest must happen before involvement, not after; failing to declare is itself a breach of honesty and integrity.

Whistleblowing (protected disclosure) is legally protected; the person making a disclosure in good faith must not be victimised, and retaliation is separate misconduct.

Bribery Act 2010: a bribe is a financial or other advantage offered, promised, requested or accepted to induce or reward improper performance of a function.

Use of police information: access must be for a policing purpose, proportionate and auditable; personal curiosity is never a policing purpose.

Communication model: sender → encoding → channel → noise → receiver → decoding → feedback; feedback is the only reliable check that the message was received as intended.

Active listening behaviours: paraphrasing, summarising, reflecting feeling, open questions, and tolerating silence - these confirm understanding and reduce escalation.

Multi-agency risk structures: the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) triages safeguarding referrals, and a Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) coordinates protection for high-risk domestic abuse victims.

Information sharing is lawful when it is necessary, proportionate, relevant and shared with the right people for a legitimate purpose; consent is one lawful basis, not the only one.

The Data Protection Act 2018 allows sharing for safeguarding purposes where failure to share could put a person at risk; record the decision and the basis for it.

Partnership working requires agreed roles, a single point of contact, shared objectives and a written record of decisions; ambiguity in roles is the most common failure.

The 'whole system' approach: police, local authority, health, education, probation and voluntary sector each hold part of the picture; no single agency sees the whole risk.

Public reassurance messaging: acknowledge, explain, state action taken and next steps, and give a channel for follow-up - silence increases fear and rumour.