The Police Oral Board is usually the first opportunity for members of your chosen police department to meet you. The examination consists of the applicant verbally answering a series of questions presented by a panel of Raters.

The panel normally consists of three to five people. These people are generally members of the police department which the applicant applied to, members of the appropriate city or county government administration, and/or prominent private citizens. It is the responsibility of the panel to evaluate the applicant’s response to the given questions then score and make recommendations on whether to allow the applicant to proceed to the next testing phase.

The questions asked during an Oral Board will generally be to measure the applicant’s proficiency in the following areas:

A. Verbal Comprehension

B. Verbal Expression

C. Reasoning/Judgement

D. Fluency of Ideas

E. Originality

VERBAL COMPREHENSION: The ability to quickly and accurately comprehend another person’s meaning. It is the ability to hear a description of an event or question and understand what was said.

VERBAL _EXPRESSION: The ability to organize thoughts and express them in a clear and logical manner. This ability involves using language to communicate ideas and information to other people.

REASONING/JUDGEMENT: The ability to recognize or identify the existence of a problem. The ability to take an idea from the general to the specific or from the specific to the general in order to solve a problem. This ability involves consideration of all the facts provided, distinguishing between important and unimportant information and omitting unimportant and irrelevant information. It is also the ability to critically evaluate a situation, to comprehend a situation in its proper perspective, to evaluate alternate solutions, to consider implications of problems and solutions and to arrive at a sound decision.

FLUENCY OF IDEAS: This ability pertains to developing a series of ideas to a problem or question and the applicant’s ability to express those ideas intelligently and clearly.

ORIGINALITY: This is an applicant’s ability to think on his/her feet, to develop unusual and original responses to a given topic or question. It gauges an applicant’s ability to improvise solutions in situations where standard procedures do not apply.

The panel will also be observing the applicant for the following:

A. Body Language.

B. Demeanor

C. Honesty

D. Confidence

E. Decision Making

During the Oral Board, applicants are usually required to sit in a chair approximately six feet in front of the table the Raters are seated at. This is so the Raters can observe your body language and also gauge how well the applicant performs in a semi-stressful environment.

The examination normally lasts between 20 to 40 minutes but can be longer, or shorter, depending on the answers given and if any follow up questions need to be asked. Normally, though, the Raters only ask a set number of pre-determined questions and do not ask other questions unless it’s to obtain more detail to an answer given for an already asked question.

During the examination, it is normal for the Raters to ask several open ended questions, (such as ‘Tell us about yourself’,) and, possibly, a couple hypothetical and/or stressor questions.

Hypothetical questions are generally used to measure an applicant’s common sense and problem solving abilities. Hypothetical questions are also useful in determining if an applicant is too timid or unsure of his/her decision making ability as well as whether he/she has a “Super Hero” mentality and is out to “save the world.” Either personality can be detrimental to a department and fellow officers. You do not need any special law enforcement training or experience to do well on an Oral Board, (NOTE: Lateral Officer Oral Boards differ from Entry-Level in that more law enforcement specific questions are asked.)

Stressor questions are typically the “No-Right-Answer” questions. For example, “You catch your mother speeding. Do you issue her a ticket?” or “You see fellow officers smoking pot at a party. Do you arrest them?”

While these questions have no obvious right answer, (in fact, whatever answer you give will likely be challenged by the panel,) they are not given for that purpose. Stressor questions are used to measure how well an applicant will perform under a stressful situation, if he/she will stick by the original answer given and clearly explain why he/she would and to gauge the applicant’s level of honesty. As always, common sense is important when coming to any decision during a hypothetical or stressor questions.

When the panel conclude their questioning, they will ask the applicant if he/she has any questions for them. It is a good idea to have a set of questions to ask the panel and the more original and thought-out the question the better it appears for the applicant. Remember, the panel probably hears the same questions dozens of times by previous applicants, so having something original or a question that displays some thought goes a long way.

Normally, after the applicant asks his questions, the Oral Board is completed. In most departments, an applicant will need a score of 70% or better in order to pass the Oral Board and continue with the hiring process.