Public Service
SJT Scenarios
Two original situational judgement test scenarios built around public service: a stranded older woman at the end of a shift and a community meeting nobody attends. Rate each action, check our ratings and see how public service runs through the sift and the online assessment.
Independent information, not advice · Sources checked 21 October 2026 · England and Wales unless stated
Rate highest the actions that meet the person's or community's real need now and build trust: dealing with someone's welfare before handing over, or asking residents how they want to engage before changing anything. Rate low the actions that brush people off, carry on regardless or withdraw a service without replacing it.
Original PolicePay practice scenarios in the format of the College of Policing national sift, not College questions. Our ratings are not the College's answer key, which is not published.
Scenario 1: The lost purse at shift end
Rate each action as your first response. The same rating can be used more than once.
Free sample scenario
The lost purse at shift end
Ten minutes before the end of your shift, an older woman tells you she has lost her purse with her bus pass and has no way to get home. She lives about four miles away.
Rate each action on its own, from 1 (Counterproductive) to 5 (Very effective). You can give the same rating to more than one action.
Rate all four actions to check your answers.
What public service means in the 2024 framework
Our paraphrase of the College's 2024 framework:
- acting in the public interest and taking pride in giving an excellent service;
- building public trust and confidence;
- using powers lawfully, proportionately and only when necessary;
- understanding the needs of different communities, including their history and experiences;
- being honest about the limits of your own knowledge, then finding out;
- seeking feedback and reflecting so the service improves.
Since 2024 public service includes reflection and learning, not just helpfulness. A good public service action often asks people what they need.
Where public service fits in the sift
As with the other values, the College's guidance says public service is assessed in the BSQ, while the SJT assesses the six competencies. The College's own example SJT scenario, though, is a public service dilemma: young people gathering outside a community centre and intimidating residents without committing an offence, with residents wanting them moved on. Its four actions range from gathering information from social workers or community groups, to recording and monitoring, to dispersal or extra patrols, to speaking to the young people directly. The College publishes no answer key; it is there to show the format.
Scenario 1 explained: The lost purse at shift end
Ten minutes before the end of your shift, an older woman tells you she has lost her purse with her bus pass and has no way to get home. She lives about four miles away.
| Action | Our rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Tell her to report the loss online and wish her luck getting home. | 2 Ineffective | Reporting online may help later, but it ignores her immediate problem of getting home safely. |
| Check she is safe, then help her find a way home, such as calling family. | 5 Very effective | Dealing with her welfare and her immediate need is good public service, even near the end of a shift. |
| Record the loss and give her the details she will need to replace her bus pass. | 4 Effective | Reasonable and useful. On its own it does not solve how she gets home today. |
| Hand her to the next shift without telling her who will help or when. | 1 Counterproductive | Leaving her without knowing what happens next is likely to make her feel abandoned. |
Recording the loss is useful and rated Effective, but it does not solve the immediate problem. That is the typical shape of a public service scenario: a reasonable administrative action next to the one that meets the person's need now.
Scenario 2: The meeting nobody attends
This one is about how the police engage a community. Rate each action on its own.
Free sample scenario
The meeting nobody attends
Your team holds a monthly public meeting in a church hall to hear residents' concerns. For three months only two people have come, both retired. Residents on social media say the police never ask them anything.
Rate each action on its own, from 1 (Counterproductive) to 5 (Very effective). You can give the same rating to more than one action.
Rate all four actions to check your answers.
Carrying on unchanged and cancelling outright are both Ineffective, for opposite reasons. Trying a pop-up session is a sensible experiment (Effective); asking residents first is better because it rests on what they actually want.
Public service patterns
| Situation | Usually rated high | Usually rated low |
|---|---|---|
| A person with an immediate need | Welfare first; practical help now | Redirecting them to a form or another team without help |
| A community concern with no offence | Finding out more; engaging the people involved; partners | Heavy-handed dispersal; dismissing the concern |
| Something that is not working | Asking the people it serves; testing a change | Carrying on unchanged; cutting it with no replacement |
| You do not know the answer | Saying so honestly, then finding out | Guessing and presenting it as fact |
Sift and recruitment alerts
Know when the sift or the application windows change
Forces open and close recruitment windows without much notice, and the national sift can change. Leave your email and we will tell you when forces open applications and when the sift or the entry rules change. Occasional emails, written by hand. Unsubscribe any time.
Sent by a person when there is news, not on a schedule. Unsubscribe any time. See our privacy policy.
Rating traps
- Process over people. Paperwork matters, but rarely before someone's immediate welfare.
- Doing what the loudest people want. Moving young people on because residents asked is not automatically good service if no offence is happening.
- Overpromising. Honest limits build more trust than promises the police cannot keep.
- Ignoring the end of the story. Following up so people see a result is part of public service.
Public service later in the process
The College lists public service in two online assessment exercises: the competency-based interview and the briefing exercise. The briefing exercise's community scenarios are where it shows most: thinking about everyone affected, being honest about what the police can do and following up. Try the free briefing exercise simulator and see public service interview answers.
More practice
Scenario 2 explained: The meeting nobody attends
Your team holds a monthly public meeting in a church hall to hear residents' concerns. For three months only two people have come, both retired. Residents on social media say the police never ask them anything.
| Action | Our rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Keep running the meeting as it is, because it is what the team has always done. | 2 Ineffective | Carrying on unchanged ignores clear evidence that the format is not reaching people. |
| Ask residents, including younger ones, how they would prefer to talk to police. | 5 Very effective | Asking the community what works for them is the best starting point for engaging more people. |
| Try a short pop-up session at the supermarket on a Saturday and compare who comes. | 4 Effective | A sensible experiment that may reach more people, though it is a guess until you have asked residents. |
| Cancel the meetings and rely on social media posts instead. | 2 Ineffective | Dropping the meeting entirely may leave the two regular attendees and others without a way to be heard. |
Scenario 3: The question you cannot answer
Honesty about the limits of your knowledge. Rate each action.
Free sample scenario
The question you cannot answer
At a street surgery, a resident asks you why a local burglary investigation was closed. You do not know the case and the officer in charge is on leave.
Rate each action on its own, from 1 (Counterproductive) to 5 (Very effective). You can give the same rating to more than one action.
Rate all four actions to check your answers.
| Action | Our rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Give a general reason that sounds likely so the resident is not left without an answer. | 1 Counterproductive | Guessing and presenting it as fact misleads the resident and damages trust. |
| Say honestly that you do not know, take their details and promise to find out. | 5 Very effective | Honest about the limits of your knowledge and committed to following up. |
| Suggest they contact the force through the website. | 2 Ineffective | Not wrong, but it passes the problem back to the resident. |
| Ask a colleague at the surgery if they know about the case. | 3 Slightly effective | A sensible first check, though a colleague may not have the full picture either. |
The 2024 framework links public service to being honest about the limits of your own knowledge. A confident guess feels helpful in the moment but damages trust when it turns out wrong.
The five-point scale, applied to public service
| Rating | College definition | Typical action (our illustration) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Counterproductive | An inappropriate action that will have a negative impact or make the situation worse. | Guessing and presenting it as fact; abandoning someone without telling them who will help. |
| 2 Ineffective | A poor action which will not help to resolve the situation. | Redirecting someone to a website when they need help now; carrying on with something that is not working. |
| 3 Slightly effective | An action that will have a small positive impact on the situation. | A sensible first check that may not get the answer. |
| 4 Effective | A reasonable action that will help to resolve the situation. | Recording the issue properly; trying a new approach on a small scale. |
| 5 Very effective | One of the best actions that could be taken to resolve the situation. | Meeting the immediate need; asking the community what works; honest limits with a promise to follow up. |
A public service checklist for any SJT scenario
- What does the person or community need right now and does the action meet it?
- Is the action honest about what the police can and cannot do?
- Does it build trust, or would it leave people feeling brushed off?
- Is it proportionate to the problem, especially when no offence is involved?
- Does it include a follow-up so people see a result?
- Have I rated each action on its own?
What we could not verify
- The College's answer key, including for its own example scenario.
- How the BSQ measures public service.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does public service mean in the police CVF?
It is one of the three values in the College of Policing's 2024 framework: working in the public interest, building trust and confidence, understanding the needs of different communities, being honest about the limits of your knowledge, seeking feedback and reflecting so the service improves.
Does the national sift SJT assess public service?
The College says the SJT assesses the six competencies and the behavioural styles questionnaire assesses the competencies plus the three values, including public service. Many SJT scenarios still involve choices about serving the public well.
Is it right to help someone at the end of a shift in the SJT?
Usually, if their need is immediate. Dealing with someone's welfare and getting them help is good public service. Handing them over without telling them who will help, or pointing them to an online form, rarely resolves the situation.
How should I rate actions that ask the public what they want?
Highly, as a first response, where the problem is how the police engage with a community. Asking people how they would prefer to be involved is usually better than guessing or carrying on unchanged.
What is the College's own example SJT scenario?
The College's sift guidance describes young people gathering outside a community centre on an estate, intimidating residents but committing no offence, with residents wanting them moved on. The actions include gathering information, monitoring, dispersal or extra patrols and speaking to the young people. No answer key is published.
Are these real national sift questions?
No. They are original PolicePay practice scenarios. Our ratings are reasoned judgement, not the College's answer key.
Where else is public service assessed?
In the online assessment process, the College lists public service in the competency-based interview and the briefing exercise. The briefing exercise also asks you to consider how the police can build positive relationships.
Sources and how we checked them
Every factual claim on this page was written from the sources below, read on 21 October 2026. Rules and figures change, so check the source for the date you are reading this. Where we could not confirm something from an official or independent source, the page says so rather than guessing. Spotted something out of date? See our corrections policy.
- College of Policing: National sift candidate guidance (May 2026 PDF; page updated 1 June 2026) : SJT and BSQ areas; scale; rating instructions; the College's example scenario about young people outside a community centre (accessed 21 October 2026)
- College of Policing: Competency and values framework : public service as a 2024 value (accessed 21 October 2026)
- College of Policing: Ethical policing principles : public service as a Code of Ethics principle (accessed 21 October 2026)
- College of Policing: Online assessment process candidate guide (updated 21 July 2026) : public service in the interview and briefing exercise; positive relationships (accessed 21 October 2026)
On this topic elsewhere
More in this guide series
Free tools for applicants
Disclaimer
PolicePay.co.uk is an independent guide. It is not affiliated with the College of Policing, the Home Office or any police force and it does not recruit, vet or assess applicants. Recruitment standards, assessment formats and vetting decisions are set by the College of Policing and each force and change from time to time: check the force you are applying to before relying on anything here. Details apply to England and Wales unless stated. Details are as checked on 21 October 2026.