1. Who we are looking for

This varies dependent on the entry route you chose. Visit PC entry routes to find out more.

You must be 18 or older to join us, but you can apply when you are 17.

Typically the upper age limit is 57.

Physical fitness

To ensure you are fit enough for the role, you will undertake a fitness test.   We are looking for no more than the minimum standard needed to enable you to work effectively as a police officer. You will be given help to improve your fitness and if you prepare yourself properly, there is no reason for you to fail.  

You will need to complete officer safety training (OST) every year.  This involves completing and passing handcuffing techniques, the fitness test and personal unarmed and armed combat.  It is your responsibility to keep yourself fit throughout the 12 months.

Health

Police officers encounter stressful situations, trauma, physical confrontation and work long hours on shifts. They need to be resilient enough to cope with the demands and pressures of police work. Applicants must therefore be in good health mentally and physically to undertake police duties.  You will undergo a medical examination to ensure you meet the health standards required.

Eyesight

Applicants will have their eyesight tested at the medical assessment stage. You may be asked to go to an optician to have your eyes tested and the eyesight form filled in. Failure to pass this test will lead to rejection.

Tattoos are very common; all tattoos that are reviewed to check appropriateness. Images that are grotesque, violent, have a strong religious or political connection or would undermine the dignity and authority of your role would not be acceptable.

As you will be expected to respond to incidents across Wiltshire Police force area you will need to hold a full driving licence for a manual car at the point of application.

You must be a British citizen, an EC/EEA national or a Commonwealth citizen or foreign national with no restrictions on your stay in the United Kingdom. 

You will need a minimum of three years continuous residential history in the UK for you to meet vetting requirements.

Foreign nationals and UK citizens who may have lived abroad for a period within the last five years may have their vetting clearance delayed, due to additional security checks.

If you hold any overseas citizenship status please check that your application to Wiltshire Police will not affect any of your citizenship rights outside of the UK. Please email [email protected] should you have any questions regarding this. 

Police officers must uphold the highest of values, standards and behaviours.  Anyone who is using illegal drugs will be ruled out of our recruitment process.  To maintain our high standards we do carry out substance misuse tests as part of our pre-employment checks.

You need to tell us about other jobs or business interests you want to keep up after you join us, so we can check these do not conflict with working for Wiltshire Police.  This is all part of maintaining our high standards.

A number of crimes will mean a definite or likely rejection of your application, including anyone who has received a formal caution in the last five years, committed a violent crime or public order offence. If you are at all unsure, get in contact and ask.

All candidates will be subject to internal and external vetting checks, along with their current spouse/partner and all immediate family over the age of 10. This includes but is not limited to children, parents, siblings and co-residents.

(the above list will also include biological, adopted, foster, full, half and step siblings, partner's children, step parents and all previous partner's covering the last 3 years).

Membership of groups and/or organisations that contradict our values, standards and behaviour and our commitment to equality, are prohibited. Wiltshire Police will not accept applications from anyone who is, or has been, a member of groups and/or organisations including, but not limited to, the British National Party (BNP), National Front, Combat 18 or similar. 

You can apply to more than one force at a time if you wish, but it is important that candidates do not attend more than one assessment centre at any one time. 

If you have previously applied to join the police service and been unsuccessful at the Online Assessment Centre, near miss candidates can reapply after three months from your initial rejection.

If you have already been to a Online Assessment Centre and have received a successful result, this will be valid for 24 months from the date you attended.

Financial checks will also be carried out on all candidates. Depending on your specific circumstances, it is unlikely that police vetting clearance will be granted if you have:

• an outstanding county court judgement (CCJ)
• been registered bankrupt and three years have not passed since the date your bankruptcy was discharged
• been granted a debt relief order (DRO) and three years have not passed since the date it was finalised