Met Police Exam study materials
Met Police Exam study resources

Met Police Exam flashcards

Met Police Exam · Build recall with a focused review session.

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

PEEL values framework
The Met's stated values: Policing by Consent, Empathy, Integrity, Transparency. Situational judgement options are scored against these four lenses, so answers breaching integrity or transparency rank lowest.
National Decision Model
A six-stage cycle: Code of Ethics, gather information, assess threat and risk, consider powers and policy, take action, review. Answers that omit review or ignore legal powers are scored as weaker.
Policing by consent
The principle that police authority derives from public approval and legitimacy rather than force alone. It requires proportionate action, accountability, and explanation of decisions to the community served.
Safeguarding referral trigger
Any indication of child risk, domestic abuse, vulnerable adult, or mental health crisis requires a referral regardless of whether the person consents. Consent is not the gate for safeguarding.
Procedural justice elements
Four markers: voice (people can explain), neutrality (decisions explained), respect, and trustworthy motives. Situational answers demonstrating these are typically rated most effective.
Percentage change formula
Percentage change equals (new minus old) divided by old, multiplied by 100. Percentage points compare two percentages directly and are not the same as percent change.
Reverse percentage rule
To recover an original value after a percentage change, divide by the multiplier. After a p percent increase divide by 1 plus p over 100; after a decrease divide by 1 minus p over 100.
Rate per 1,000
Rate equals count divided by population, multiplied by 1,000. Areas of different population sizes can only be compared fairly after converting raw counts into rates.
Weighted average
Sum of each value multiplied by its weight, divided by the sum of weights. Averaging percentages from unequal-sized groups without weighting gives a wrong result.
Ratio share formula
To split total T in ratio a to b to c, each share equals T multiplied by that part, divided by the sum of all parts, a plus b plus c.
Compound change formula
Final value equals starting value multiplied by (1 plus r) raised to the power n, where r is the periodic rate and n the number of periods.
Cannot Say answer
Correct when the passage gives insufficient information or is ambiguous. Outside knowledge must never upgrade a Cannot Say to True; plausibility alone is not evidence.
Quantifier discipline
Statements using all, only, always, or never are False if the passage supports even one exception. Absolute wording is the most common distractor in verbal reasoning.
Author claim versus reported claim
A passage may report what others said without endorsing it. Only claims the author asserts support a True answer; reported speech supports only that it was said.
Scope shift distractor
A statement widening or narrowing the passage's subject - one division becomes the whole organisation, one year becomes all years. Unsupported scope changes make the statement Cannot Say or False.
Correlation versus causation
A passage showing two things occur together does not support a statement that one caused the other. Causal statements need explicit causal evidence in the text.
Incident report structure
Chronological order with timestamps, answering who, what, when, where, how, and what action followed. Past tense, third person, full names and roles at first mention.
Fact versus opinion labelling
Use explicit framing: I observed, X stated, or In my opinion. Opinion must be labelled rather than blended into factual narrative, or the report loses evidential value.
Recording exact words
Admissions, threats, and complaints are recorded verbatim in quotation marks. Paraphrase is permitted only when clearly labelled as a summary of what was said.
Legal power in reports
Every use of force, search, detention, or seizure must state the legal power relied on and the grounds for it. A report omitting these is incomplete and returned for amendment.
Observable behaviour over labels
Replace conclusory words such as aggressive with observable detail: shouted, clenched fists, refused three requests to step back. Labels alone are unsupported opinion in a statement.
Five Cs report check
Clear, Concise, Complete, Correct, Chronological. A report failing any one of these five tests is returned for amendment before it can be used evidentially.
Syllogism validity test
A conclusion is valid only if it must be true whenever all premises are true. A single consistent counterexample is enough to invalidate the conclusion.
Contrapositive rule
From if P then Q, infer if not Q then not P, which is always valid. The inverse, if not P then not Q, is invalid and is a standard distractor.
Necessary versus sufficient
P sufficient for Q means P implies Q. P necessary for Q means Q implies P. Confusing the two directions is the most common logical reasoning error.
Necessary assumption test
Negate the candidate assumption. If the argument collapses without it, it is necessary. If the argument survives the negation, the option is not required.
Some and no quantifiers
Some A are B does not imply some B are not A. No A are B does imply no B are A, because the exclusion is symmetric between the two sets.
Confusable character pairs
Verify letter by letter: zero and O, one and I and l, five and S, eight and B, two and Z. These substitutions cause most data-entry errors in records.
UK vehicle registration format
Current series is two letters, two numbers, then three letters, for example AB12 CDE. Verify each block separately when transcribing a VRM.
24-hour time recording
Times use four digits on the 24-hour clock: 07:05 and 23:40. Midnight is written 00:00, never 24:00, and afternoon times add 12 to the hour.
Cross-field time consistency
Time of incident must precede time of attendance, which must precede time of report. Any inversion signals a transcription error and invalidates the record.
Internal figure reconciliation
Any figure appearing twice in a document, such as totals, counts, or dates, must match. A single mismatch casts doubt on the accuracy of the whole record.