Featured

Forget Halloween Fancy a spooky night of fun, locked in a haunted cell for 24 hours to raise money for charity. Then we have an event that is right up your street.

Following on from the success of the PC Edward Walker Tour, Jules Berry a DDO with the Met Police is back with her spooky haunted cell idea to raise money for COPS UK and WMP History Museum, That is exactly what you can do this Feb.

Met Police Detention Officer Jules Berry is arranging the whole event in partnership with the WMP History Museum and is hoping to raise thousands of pounds for charity.

The event will take place on the 8th and 9th of February 2019, but be quick as places are limited.

Unfortunately, Police Hour will no longer be live streaming this event to our 2.5 Million Followers, But we hope our readers can still attend and support this event.

Need we say any more, Simply watch this video then sign up

Hats off to Kerry Blakeman for his fantastic advertorial.

The event is being held to support the restoration of the West Midlands Police Museum and COPS UK.

About COPS

COPS is the UK charity dedicated to helping the families of police officers who have lost their lives in relation to their duty, to rebuild their lives.

Since being founded in 2003, they have helped hundreds of families shattered by the loss of their police officer.

They aim to ensure that surviving family members have all the help they need

to cope with such a tragedy and they remain part of the police family.

What COPS do?

COPS is a peer support charity, enabling Survivors from around the UK to support other Survivors in practical ways. They arrange local and national events that enable Survivors to build friendships and bonds that support them through the good times and bad.

Families are rightly proud of their officer and COPS to help ensure that they remain part of the police family.

What about the WMP History?

The West Midlands Police Museum at Coventry was opened in 1959 and celebrates the history of Coventry City Police which existed between 1839 & 1969, before becoming part of Warwickshire and Coventry Constabulary and in 1974, West Midlands Police.

The site at Sparkhill has been operating since 1995 when it moved there from the force’s training facility at Tally Ho! where it been operating as a CID training facility since the mid 1970s. Several of the exhibits had originated from the old Forensic Science Service laboratory when it moved from Newton Street to Gooch Street.

The Sparkhill museum contains items of policing memorabilia and old records from the West Midlands Police predecessor forces of Birmingham City Police, Walsall Borough Police, Dudley Borough Police, Wolverhampton Borough Police and West Midlands Constabulary. Some records are also held of Staffordshire County Police and Worcestershire officers as parts of those forces now fall within the West Midlands Police area.

You can also drop an email [email protected] to sign up, you must raise a minimum of £250 sponsorship.

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Featured, Promotion

Promotion: Your Mission Should You Choose To Accept It

By Steve Cooper , Aug 8, 2018 5:23 pmAug 8, 2018Off 31

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 with the knowledge, skills and attributes you will require. That is all. Good luck.

Ok, as you’ve probably guessed, I recently went to see Mission Impossible – Fallout, at the cinema.

It’s as good as all the hype too. Here’s a taster:

Identify and Secure Intelligence

“Intelligence or the lack of it determines the probability of success” – Sun Tsu

Gathering, verifying and assessing facts and information is the first step in the decision-making process and identifying operational threats and risks. Asking questions to do that are key. Good leaders don’t have all the answers but do ask great questions.

What do you know? What do you need to know? Where and how will you get the information required?

Here’s another: “What kind of promotion interview will you face?”

As a coach/mentor, I’ll often ask candidates this question because responses can be revealing. A tremendous amount of uncertainty around this topic is not uncommon. Many candidates unwittingly ignore or overlook existing open source intelligence.

“You don’t understand what you are involved in” – Ilsa Faust (MI6)

“I don’t know” is a common reply. And that’s ok because it’s a great place to start.

As a leader, manager and supervisor you won’t always have all the facts and it’s a helpful question to identify knowledge gaps, raise awareness and to build confidence. Being comfortable with uncertainty is also an expectation for leadership development given today’s vortex of change.

When asked in the film how he was going to solve the problem at hand, agent Hunt replies:

“I’ll figure it out.”

Adopting an intelligence-based approach is a tried and tested method to help you figure out how to perform well in your force selection process – and accomplish your mission of securing promotion.

There are a variety of knowns and unknowns involved and many individuals are simply unaware that a great deal of useful information is freely available, hidden in plain sight! I encourage officers to build and develop an intelligence picture of what is known.

“Maybe it’s hard to see what’s right in front of you while you’re frantically searching for it” – Susane Colisanti

Actionable Information

“Information about the package is as important as the package itself” – Frederick W. Smith

* * * Impossible Missions Force (IMF): 13 Point Intelligence Report * * *

You will face a competency interview. This is also known as a structured or behavioural interview.
You need to understand this because it means you will be asked questions in a certain way.
In means also that any answers you provide should be structured. This will help you to score. Different structures exist. You need to choose one you feel comfortable with.
Any selection test for promotion including this interview will be assessed against a competency framework.
Different competencies may be tested more than once during a selection process, so develop your understanding of the assessment framework. You’ll be operating blind if you don’t.
You will be asked six to eight questions. Some will be forward facing questions. Others will be rear facing.
You’ll have between 45 minutes and 60 minutes to persuade and influence the panel that you can do the job.
Make it easy for them to choose you. Be so good they can’t ignore you.
All agents should know. Those days of ‘winging it’ or flying by the seat of your pants – are long gone.
Prevailing in this situation is likely to be underpinned by your ability to talk comfortably about the role; the challenges you’ll face and how you believe you can meet them.
A demonstrable understanding of vision, mission and shared values are important.
The depth and breadth of your preparation will be apparent to those charged with making the decision to promote you.
The panel’s role is to promote the best available people. Start now.

***This report will self-destruct in five seconds ***

Once you’ve acquired timely, accurate and actionable information as outlined above you’ll need to increase your focus, up your energy and activity levels to make full use of it.

Making the jump from where you are to where you want to be, requires an effective plan and action! A digital Toolkit could help you leap to another level. Heightening awareness as you get nearer to the prize can be a nail-biting experience. You may need to fight harder, change gear or increase your speed.

“Phoenix, I have eye on the prize. Do you copy?” – Ethan Hunt

Achieving promotion can sometimes seem like Mission Impossible. However, hundreds of officers are taking covert action using open source information, which enables them to report back successfully: “Mission accomplished”.

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Featured, Promotion

Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You

By Steve Cooper , Jul 17, 2018 1:58 pmJul 17, 2018Off 22

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, perseverance and commitment. The good news is that you can massively enhance your chances of success with some smart working. Because of the promotion processes are a competition, it means you must become the best version of you.

A strong performance in your promotion interview is likely to be underpinned by your ability to talk comfortably: Talking about the role you aspire to, your workforce mission, vision and shared values; together with enthusiasm and a clear idea of what you will do with your new stripes or pips going forward.

Begin With the End in Mind

“Visualise this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blue print, and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

To make it easy for the panel to pick you from others, aim to be so good that they can’t ignore you. This is in your power. Take a few moments to visualise your promotion interview. Ask yourself these questions and write down your responses.

What impression do I want to leave the panel with when I leave the room?
What do I want them to think?
What needs to happen for that to be the case?

Visualising success ahead of your promotion opportunity helps lay a mental foundation for managing your interview responses. Thinking through potential questions and responses develops self-awareness and incrementally builds your personal confidence. However, it’s not a one-off. You need to work at this over time.

Your Attitude

“You have to apply yourself each day to becoming a little better. By applying yourself to the task of becoming a little better each day and every day over a period of time, you will become a lot better” – John Wooden

Your attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents your degree of like or dislike for something. It is your ‘state of readiness’ to respond in a characteristic way to a concept or situation. It is the dynamic element in your behaviour, the motive (reason) for activity e.g. Why are you doing this?

The good news is that your attitude is a choice. It can be changed through persuasion. It is generally a positive or negative view of a thing or event. Always remember that you are free to choose your attitude.

“The last of human freedoms is the power to choose one’s attitude to a given set of circumstances” – Victor Frankl

What attitude have you chosen?

Growth Mindset

“When the world says give up,hope whispers, tryone more time.” – Unknown

Have a look at the differences between fixed and growth mindsets, as described by the psychologist Carol Dweck.

The following also lays the concept out nicely in a graphic designed by the theorist Nigel Holmes.

Dweck states that a passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even when it is not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. Individuals with the growth mindset find success in doing their best, in learning and improving.

What do you recognise in your own mindset?

A Triple Whammy…

“Some people don’t like competition because it makes them work harder, better” – Drew Carey

Aspiring officers who have previously experienced failure often contact me. As a coach/mentor, I believe in the potential of every individual.

I mentioned earlier that I had been inspired to write this blog by a Sergeant, who had been unsuccessful in promotion selection processes in his force. We spoke on the phone and it was clear that he still possessed a positive attitude.

Although he was disappointed by previous setbacks, his growth mindset, self-belief and reserves of resilience were all factors that made him want to try again. But this time he decided to approach things slightly differently. I’ll let him tell the story:

“I applied for promotion three times with my force and was unsuccessful each time. From wanting to give up and thinking it may not be for me, I attended the Rank Success promotion Masterclass, where I got to grip with how and what I needed to do. I tried one final time applying for mutiple advertised Inspector vacancies in three different forces. Every force had different application processes (A “Why Me & Why Now” Letter, an online application and a standard application).

“I was successful in all three paper sifts that followed and was invited to interviews/assessment centres. Rank Success eBooks helped me prepare for my presentations, briefings and formal interviews.”

I went from 3 Failures to 3 Passes!

“I passed all three-promotion boards with flying colours coming top in two processes. A choice of three forces! I wish I could take all the positions offered but have to decide where is my career best suited!” –

Deepak recently (Passed THREE Inspectors processes at once!)

What happened for this to be the outcome?

When you begin with the end in mind,‘ Be so good they can’t ignore you, becomes a mindset. It raises the bar from day one. I encourage all my clients to aim that high.

Successful candidates often tell me that they put more effort, time and commitment into preparing for their interview than anything they have ever prepared for before. As a result, they feel more aware and confident. It’s that simple, and it’s that hard!

Ask yourself How much do I want to succeed?

Am I prepared to do the necessary work to perform to the best of my ability when it matters?

Life is a series of choices. You can choose your mindset. You can choose to start now.

Wherever you are on your promotion journey, Rank Success can help you prepare effectively. Why not download a FREE guide & start today?

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Featured, News

Heartwarming cops share chips with man who hasn’t eaten for days

By Online Team , Jun 19, 2018 10:00 pmJun 19, 2018Off 5

Two police officers this evening shared their chips with a man they found on the motorway who hasn’t eaten food in days.

The caring cops showed compassion and humanity when they could have just nicked the lad and sent him off to the cells.

But instead of taking him straight into police custody they stopped off for some chips.

Showing a truly caring side of British traffic cops who often don’t get the best press.

“The cops from the Leicestershire road policing unit tweeted that they had found on motorway suspected to be an illegal immigrant into the UK.

“He’s not eaten for days and we’ve not eaten for hours, so we’ve all shared some fine English cuisine …… a bag of chips!! 👍🏻 🍟”

These truly caring officers have shown this evening that police officers have hearts and they do care about people.

Policing is not always about crime, it’s the small acts of human kindness that go a long way.

We praise these officers for their genuine out of kindness out of their own pocket.

Helen tweeted “I know you’ll probably get people complain but. Compassion, humanity and care are great qualities.”

UK Cop Humour tweeted “Fab stuff and whilst we’re on the topic of spuds: why do potatoes make good detectives? Because they keep their eyes peeled.”

ElAine tweeted “I know some people’s heads will explode at this but well done for your compassion.”

Simply policing at it’s best. What ever your views you have to admit this is compassion and humility at it’s best.

These cops truly deserve to be recognised for great policing work.

Not every job needs to be a tick box, just because it’s a suspected illegal immigrant doesn’t mean they should be treat any different.

Top job with excellent policing skills, that will have ensured this suspect didn’t cause any problems for the officers.

Full up on chips, the officers then processes this man through custody and will refer to the home office immigration services.

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Featured, Heroes

Hero Cops save girls life of girl who wanted to kill herself

By Online Team , Nov 21, 2016 9:09 pmNov 22, 2016Off 11

Two fast-thinking police officers have helped saved the life of a girl who text her mate saying she wanted to end her life. Officers were quickly alerted and began searching for the girl.

The officers were alerted to the incident in the early hours of November 14, when Police Constables Daryl Jones and Mark Bullock, from Southend’s Local Policing Team, were patrolling Southend.

With the clock against them, the officers began searching the area and found a girl who matched the description. She had walked four miles from her home alone after sneaking out in the middle of the night and was on her way to Southend town centre to harm herself. The pair pulled over and approached the girl cautiously.

Upon seeing the officers, the girl broke down and became upset. Daryl and Mark reassured her that they were there to help her. After calmly engaging with the girl, the officers managed to negotiate with her to get in the police car so they could get her out of the cold and talk to her.

She spoke openly with Daryl and Mark about the difficulties she had been experiencing and how she had text her friend in the hope that the friend would get help for her.

She thanked the officers for finding her so quickly and the pair reassured her that they would get her the further help she needed.

Daryl waited with her whilst Mark made a difficult call to her parents to inform them of the situation and that their daughter had not come to any harm. Her dad thanked the officers for finding his daughter so quickly and ensuring her safety.

The girl was taken to a mental health suite for assessment and her parents thanked the officers again for finding their daughter so quickly and getting her the help she needed.

Daryl said: “I’ve never seen more of a genuine reaction for help from someone than when the young girl broke down when she saw myself and Mark and knew we were there to help her.”

Mark said: “We were just fortunate that we were in the right place at the right time and were able to locate her and help her, I have no doubt if we hadn’t of found her it would have been a different outcome.”

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Featured, News

Stabbed police dog Finn inspires charity Christmas card and Police Hour are proud to have helped

By Online Team , Nov 20, 2016 11:29 amNov 20, 2016Off 6

A Police Dog who was stabbed while chasing a suspected thief has come together with Police Hour to inspire a Charity Christmas Card.

Not just any Christmas Card these cards have been specially designed and drawn by a very brave nine-year-old boy with cancer named Alex Goodwin.

German Shepherd Finn was stabbed on 5th October in Stevenage, His Handler PC Dave Wardell was also injured.

Alex was as devastated when he read that Finn and PC Wardell has been attacked. Alex began drawing pictures of Finn so the idea of a Christmas card was created and they sold out within one day.

Police officer’s son Alex is undergoing chemotherapy for Ewing Sarcoma, a type of bone cancer that affects fewer than 30 children in the UK each year. He faces further “complex” surgery at Christmas.

There is now a change the law regarding attacks on police dogs and horses. Please make sure your sign it.

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Featured, News

Tram driver arrested: Several dead following croydon derailment.

By Online Team , Nov 9, 2016 1:19 pmNov 9, 2016Off 3

Several people have sadly been killed after a tram derailed in Croydon, leaving five people trapped and more than fifty people injured.

Police were alerted to the incident involing a two-car vehicle that happened at around 6.10am near the Sandilands tram stop.

The British Transport Police confirmed they have arrested the tram driver, Robin Smith assistant chief constable of British Transport Police said: “It is too early for us to confirm numbers but we are working hard to assess the ongoing incident and we are continuing to focus on recovery efforts.”

Emergency services have freed five trapped people, two remain trapped within the tram.

50 people have been taken to hospital for treatment. 31 were taken to Croydon health service’s emergency department while St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south-west London, is treating another 20 people, four of who it described as “seriously injured”.

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Featured, Teesside

Hero saves little girl who turns blue and shakes in Hartlepool Shopping Centre

By Online Team , Oct 29, 2016 7:39 pmOct 29, 2016Off 4

A quick-thinking security guard jumped into action when a little girl went blue and began shaking at Middleton Grange Shopping Centre in Hartlepool.

Little Evie-Ann Richardson aged just two began suffering as a result of meningitis while she was out shopping with her mum Katie from Hartlepool.

Katie believes that the quick actions of the Middleton Grange Shopping Centre security guard Micheal Knight deserves a medal after going above and beyond to save her little girl. Telling Police Hour “I can’t thank him enough, he deserves a medal it’s the second time this month he has saved a child”.

Going on to tell Police Hour “I’m thankful and I can’t express how thankful I am to you and how brilliant you were with Evie”.

Kate was in Mcdonalds with Evie on Wednesday afternoon when things took a turn for the worst.

Quickly Evie went blue and began shaking her temperature quickly rose to 40.5 and her oxygen levels quickly dropped and a rash appeared. A glass was rolled over the rash and it never faded. She was heavily sedated.

Little Evie heavily sedated after arriving at North Tees Hospital.

Evie was blue lighted to North Tees Hosptial a medical team awaited her arrival and blood test confirmed she had bug in her blood, she had a spinal fluid taken from her spine that confirmed it hasn’t spread to her brain she has been very lucky,

Katie told Police Hour it is “important that children have their vaccinations, even though Evie had hers. If she never it could have spread to her brain and could have lost limbs and been seriously ill or the worst she could have lost her life”.

Evie is on the road to recovery thanks Middleton Grange Shopping Centre and Paramedics and medical teams at North Tees Hospital

Katie would now like to thank Micheal Knight and the paramedics who helped save Evie. She is now doing well after being discharged from Hospital. She does, however, require a daily flush and antibiotics through a drip.

Katie added ” Without the help and support from Micheal Knight and paramedics giving Evie the injection straight away we would maybe be in a different situation to the one we are now.

“We are forever grateful to every one who helped in McDonald’s and know how hard it was for people to see a little girl so poorly while eating with other children.

“Please make sure children are up to date with vaccinations even though evie was up to date if she wasn’t we may have been in a different situation we have been so lucky!”

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Featured, News

Respectful: Police car covered in red poppies to remember fallen hero’s

By Online Team , Oct 27, 2016 2:58 pmOct 27, 2016Off 7

Dorest Police has honoured our fallen hero’s with a specially decorated police car with red poppies to show the Force’s support of the Royal British Legion annual Poppy Appeal.

Acting Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner, Colin Pipe, said: “Following the success of our specially decorated pride vehicle at Bourne Free earlier this year, many members of the public got in touch to suggest other events they would like to see us support in this way.
“There was huge support for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal, recognising those who gave their lives in combat and I am pleased that we are able to do something to mark this special event.”

Chief Superintendent Colin Searle, will be taking the car to the Dorset launch of the Poppy Appeal in Dorset on Saturday 29 October in Ferndown.

Organised by Ian Jarvis, The Royal British Legion’s Community Fundraiser for Dorset, the launch will take place outside The Barrington Theatre.

The event will begin at 10am with music being provided by The Bournemouth Youth Marching Band accompanied by local schoolchildren. Also in attendance will be Royal British Legion standards as well as representatives from the Legion’s Riders Branch.

Following its appearance at the launch event, the car will be deployed on active patrol in the Poole area for the first two weeks of November.

During this year’s Poppy Appeal, The Royal British Legion is asking the public to ‘rethink Remembrance’ and recognise the sacrifices made across all generations of the British Armed Forces.

Chief Superintendent, Colin Searle, said: “I am pleased that the public asked Dorset Police to support this good cause.

“I hope that the car will encourage people to go out and buy a poppy for this year’s Remembrance and actively engage with the Royal British Legion’s campaign.

“I hope that Dorset’s residents will appreciate seeing the car out and about over the next couple of weeks.”

During the Poppy Appeal 2016 more than 45 million poppies will be distributed by 350,000 dedicated collectors.

The money raised in the Dorset area will go towards the Legion’s 2016 national target of £43million which will be used to continue its vital work delivering practical, through life care and support to the Armed Forces community.

As a result of the public’s support in the last year, The Royal British Legion has been able to answer more than 780,000 requests for help from the Armed Forces community.

The Legion uses your donations to support in so many ways including providing crisis grants, offering the children of Armed Forces personnel adventure breaks, researching the impact of blast injuries on the body, lobbying the government on key issues, and advising on benefits and money problems.

The Royal British Legion is very active in Dorset with approximately 11,000 Legion members located across the community in 46 branches.

Jim France, The Royal British Legion Area Manager for Dorset, Hampshire & Isle of Wight, said: “We are delighted that the Dorset Police have chosen to support The Royal British Legion and the Poppy Appeal in this way.

“I’m sure that the sight of the car will encourage the public to recognise the service and sacrifices made across all generations of the British Armed Forces by donating to our appeal.

“The money raised through the Poppy Appeal goes directly to our work providing support through life to anyone who is currently serving in the British Armed Forces, veterans, and their families.”

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Featured, Heroes, News

Hero officers pulled woman from burning building

By Online Team , Sep 25, 2016 7:51 pmOct 7, 2016Off 8

Two hero police officers have saved the life of a woman after pulling her from a burning building.

Police Constables Shand Panesar and Craig Nicholson attended the fire on Bridgewater Road in South Ruislip on September 20th at 8.30pm.

The Hillingdon officers entered the burning building after discovering a woman was trapped inside the house.

They rescued her from the house before the firefighters were on scene, They began administering first aid and CPR before the woman who is aged 30 was rushed to a hospital.

Thanks to the officer’s actions the woman’s condition has been described as stable, not life threatening and non-life-changing.

Well done to these brave officers who we are sure here at Police Hour they will say they were just doing their job.

Going above and beyond the call of duty.

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