Steve Cooper

Many police forces ask promotion candidates to submit a personal statement as part of their promotion process. Vast cohorts of candidates fail the initial stages of a selection process. It happens every year! Aspiring to Sergeant or Inspector rank?...

“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.” - Confucius Today a Reader, Tomorrow a Leader. Officers successfully promoted to Sergeant and Inspector are generally well-read. As a...

You are through to a promotion board. First things first, congratulations and well done! You’ll have already worked hard to pass your promotion exam plus some form of assessment or application to get to this stage. Now you have a hard-won opportunity to progress your...

Launching yourself into a police promotion process can be a challenging mission. Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon said something quite striking when he was asked what it felt like. His response was this: “It felt like...

Promotion Interviews: Mission Impossible?  “Mr Hunt, this isn’t mission difficult, it’s mission impossible” – Commander Swanbeck You are to appear before a panel. Your mission should you choose to accept it, is to identify, secure and assimilate critically important information to respond effectively to their questions. Your actions from today are vital to equipping yourself...

A determined Sergeant inspired me to write this blog. He first made contact with me because he had been unsuccessful in previous attempts at promotion to Inspector in his own force. I’ll come back to this later… There’s no easy route to acquiring or developing good interview skills. It takes time,...

 “Your success depends mainly on what you think of yourself and whether you believe in yourself ” William J. H. Boetcker   Our relationships, abilities and possibilities are influenced by our beliefs about them. These beliefs can be empowering but amongst them we all...

The phrase: ‘The King is dead. Long live the King’, refers to the heir who immediately succeeds to the throne. It arose from the law of ‘le mort saisit le vif’, meaning that the transfer of sovereignty occurs instantaneously...

As promised in my last blog Police Promotion: The Knowns and Unknowns, this article and the one that follows, will focus on the Sergeant’s role. First Things First “The best way to predict your future is to create it” – Abraham Lincoln First things...

Promotion to Sergeant and Inspector ranks are significant transitions in any policing career. Becoming More Promotable Following a kind invitation from Police Hour, I am delighted to have this opportunity to support UK police officers aspiring to police promotion and looking to...