Police CV Examples & UK Templates

Last year, the UK saw the highest number of employed police officers since records began back in 2003. If you’re looking to join the Old Bill, your application needs to be clear, persuasive, and impressive. While the hiring process often requires you to submit an application form, you may need to send a CV, too. Fortunately, we’ve got the inside scoop for you right here. 

CV guide for a police CV

Land your next job with the help of Resume.io. Our detailed guides and CV examples cover 150+ professions. When you’ve read this guide, use our easy CV builder to swiftly create an interview-winning application in no time at all. 

This CV guide and corresponding police CV example will cover the following:

• How to write a police CV
• Choosing the right CV format for police work
• How to add your contact information
• Using summaries
• Adding your police force experience
• Listing education and relevant experience
• Picking the right CV design/layout
• What the police job market looks like, and what salary you can expect

How to write a police CV

Before you can start writing your police CV, you need to know what elements to include. As standard, you should add the following sections to this document:

• The CV header
• The CV summary (aka profile or personal statement)
• The employment history section
• The CV skills section
• The education section

Think you have what it takes to crack the case? When applying for police vacancies, you’re up against a lot of eligible candidates. It’s your job to ensure that your CV stands out from the crowd for all the right reasons. Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can do just that: 

• Highlight your achievements. Whether you’re new to the force or a seasoned professional, focus on your achievements from past roles. Avoid simply stating the duties that you took care of and, instead, offer results-based points that showcase your value.
• Keep things simple. Use a straightforward CV template that has a professional style. Remember that policing is a traditional career path and the reader will expect you to have a CV that reflects this.
• Tailor your CV to the job. When applying for police roles, consider the nitty-gritty duties that the job involves. Read the job advert closely and ensure that you match the core criteria. Do all that you can to align your application with the demands of the job.
• Optimise your CV with keywords. The hiring team may use CV scanning software to filter incoming applications. Include relevant keywords and phrases organically throughout your police CV. This could boost your chances of landing the interview.

Choosing the right CV format for a police officer

Your police CV needs to be clear, professional, and easy to read. If you’ve previously worked for the force, we recommend using a reverse chronological format. That means listing your relevant work experience and qualifications from most recent to least recent. This is the traditional CV format and showcases your former employment over the rest of your application. 

However, there are times when other CV formats will be more appropriate. For example, if this is your first time applying to the police force — but you have other experience — you might find a skills-based CV format works better. This structure puts more weight on your transferable skills than it does on your work history, positioning you well for the vacancy. 

If in doubt, take a look at our selection of CV templates in our CV builder and choose one that suits your needs. We’ve also got plenty of CV examples using different formats. 

Include your contact information

Next up, you need to work on your CV header. This section of your CV works as a business card, sharing your basic contact details with the hiring manager. 

It’s important to make this simple and legible. Here’s what you need to include in this section: 

• Full name & title. Start with your first name, last name, and the role.
• Professional email address. Include a suitable-for-work email address. You might choose one that has your first and last name in it, for example.
• Phone number. Add a number that you can be reached on. You should also check the answer phone message to make sure that it is professional.
• Location. You don’t need to include your entire address. Instead, simply list your city or town and country here. (You will give your address on the supplementary documents.)

Don’t include:

• Date of birth: Don’t include this detail as it can lead to subconscious age discrimination.
• Personal details: Equally, you should include your marital status, passport number, etc.

Make use of a summary

Your professional summary is likely the first thing that the hiring manager will read. So, you need to make sure that it has a real impact. You only have between two and four sentences to make your point. The language that you use has to be formal and professional. However, you don’t want to bore the hiring team. For that reason, it should also be punchy and interesting. 

One way to keep the reader engaged is to use action verbs throughout your summary. You can stick to either the simple past or present tense, depending on the tense you are writing in. Here are some examples that you might include—excelled, delivered, achieved, and accomplished. 

While it may be tempting to just regurgitate information from the rest of your police CV, this is a real mistake. It’s a missed opportunity. Instead, you need to wow the reader with specific insights into who you are professionally and why they should give you a shot. For example, you might write “Successful Police Officer with 10 years of experience. Previously led investigations resulting in a 72% increase in case closure rates.” That opener gives the reader something to really sink their teeth into, while providing evidence of your expertise and talents. 

You can find adaptable police officer CV example summaries below:

Outline your police work experience

Once you’ve perfected your summary, it’s time to move onto your work experience. As a rule, you should only go back 10-15 years here. If you've worked for longer than that, stick to your most recent experience. You should use the reverse chronological order again. That means starting with your most recent experience at the top of the page and working backwards. 

Start out with the basic details for each role. That is your title, the employer name, location, and your dates of employment. Below this, you can add bullet points to cover the achievements you gained in the position. You want to keep these as brief as possible. Avoid using personal pronouns, such as “I” and “my” to save yourself some valuable space in this section. 

It’s important to showcase tangible outcomes instead of simply listing job duties. That means including quantifiable results, wherever possible. For instance, you should steer clear of basic statements, such as the following:

• "Trained new recruits”
• "Responded to emergency calls”
• "Prepared incident reports”

While these points may be true, they add very little to your police application. These are duties, not results. The hiring team will read them and quite literally think “So, what?” To improve this section, you should use statistics and details to highlight your value instead. For example:  

• “Trained 50+ new recruits on police procedures and protocols”
• “Responded to 100+ emergency calls per month”
• “Prepared at least 20 detailed incident reports and witness statements per month”

Take a look at the police employment history CV sample below:

How to write a police officer CV with no experience 

If you’re new to the force, you need to prove your mettle. As we have already covered, you will need to follow the seven-step process that all new recruits have to go through. Don’t let the fact that you have a lack of direct experience hold you back. There are plenty of ways that you can position your CV for a police officer with success. Here are some tips:  

• Focus on your transferable skills and the reason you want to join the police force. You can do this by detailing your work history (in other fields) and highlighting how the duties of previous roles overlap with this one. Be specific when drawing comparisons here.
• Showcase your character throughout. When applying to become a police officer, your character, integrity, and values matter. Make sure that these key aspects of your personality shine through your police officer CV.
• Use an objective, not a summary. This short paragraph should explain why you’ve chosen to embark on a policing career. Explain what you hope to gain, achieve, and learn from this move and how it aligns with your career history so far.
• Consider adopting a skills-based CV format instead of the standard reverse chronological approach. This structure will help you to emphasise your skill-set over your lack of policing work experience.
• Include any relevant education or certificates. For example, if you’ve undertaken a Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA), that speaks to your dedication and skills.

Include the relevant key skills that make you a great police officer 

To be a well-rounded police officer, you will need to have a balance of hard and soft skills. When completing your police CV, make sure you include both of these on the document.  

Hard skills are demonstrable skills that your manager can assess objectively. Much of the time, these relate directly to the position. Soft skills, on the other hand, are what you use to get the job done. These may include communication, interpersonal, and organisation skills. 

When you use our CV builder, the tool provides a range of pre-selected skills to choose from and proficiency levels, too. You can also add your own key skills into the document. 

Here’s what the skills box looks like in our CV template for police officers. 

When you can, try to put your skills into context. It’s one thing to simply list the talents that you have. But it’s quite another to show off how you use them in a professional setting. 

You can mention and reference your varied skills in other sections of your CV. For example:

• You can illustrate your legal procedure understanding by detailing the types of cases you’ve worked on in your policing work experience.
• You might highlight your investigative skills by sharing how you solved certain cases, especially if they happen to be high-profile.

If you’re having trouble figuring out which skills to include, the job advert is a great place to start.

Detail your education & relevant certifications

Next up, let’s walk through the education section of your police CV. This part of your application is relatively straight forward. Once again, you should use the reverse chronological order when listing your certificates and educational feats. Since there are many routes into the force, the things you include will depend on your experience. Here are some examples: 

• Degree. While not a requirement, if you have a degree, you should include it on your police CV, especially if it’s in a subject like law, criminology, or sociology. When you complete your police training, you will gain a degree in Professional Policing Practice.
• Degree apprenticeship. If you don’t have a university degree, there’s another option. Many people join the force by gaining a Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) or the Entry for Police Constable Entry Programme (PCEP). You will need to have a Level 3 qualification (two A-levels or equivalent).
• Level 3 qualification. Of course, if you are applying for the apprenticeship route, you will need to include your level 3 qualification. This could be two A-Levels, preferably in a relevant subject, or something equal like a level 3 NVQ.
• GCSEs. If you already have a degree, omit your GCSE grades. They are not relevant. However, if you’re applying for the apprenticeship, you may want to include them.

Pick the right CV layout and design for a police CV

The content of your police CV matters the most. However, that doesn’t mean that you should overlook the design and layout. Getting this right means that your credentials can be easily read and understood. Here are some tips to get you started: 

• Keep the font plain and simple. Opt for something standard, such as Times New Roman or Georgia. These are legible and fit the formal criteria.
• Use a two-column layout. This approach means that you can fit more information onto one or two pages.
• Avoid the use of too much colour. Adding loud colours can make your CV design look unprofessional. That’s the last thing that you want.
• Choose a modern or professional template from our selection of CV templates to make the job quick and easy.

If you’re not a natural designer, don’t worry. Using our tried and tested CV builder is a speedy way to create a flawless police CV without any hassle. 

Police officer text-only CV example

Police officer job market and outlook

The police force has recently hired a mass of new recruits. Back in July 2019, the government launched plans to recruit 20,000 police officers across England and Wales by March 2023. There are plenty of roles across the country with 45 geographical police forces in the UK.

What type of salary you can expect as a police officer

Upon joining the police, you can expect to make £28,551. However, your police officer salary will rise with your experience level. For example, when you reach pay-point seven, you will be on a £46,044 annual salary. 

Key takeaways for building a police officer CV

Your police officer CV must be clear, concise, and professional. Avoid overly creative designs or adding too much “fluff” and stick to the facts. Follow the advice we have shared to help you create an impressive application. Use our online CV builder to get started now.