I recently had the privilege of interviewing Steve Cooper, Temporary Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police. Whether you are an aspiring police promotion candidate, looking to join a force or simply interested more generally in policing, this is a valuable addition to Rank Success’s series of podcasts featuring inspirational police leaders.
By listening to this exclusive free podcast chat, you’ll gain perspectives and insights on what Notts Police are doing to maintain performance improvements recently recognised in their HMICFRS PEEL inspection, what they are looking for in police leaders, tips on how to answer promotion board questions, and much more besides in this jam-packed half hour.
I’d like to thank my namesake for kindly sparing time from his full Chief Constable’s diary to answer my questions. Here’s the episode if you want to jump straight in:
Steve Cooper started his policing career over 20 years ago in London before joining Nottinghamshire Police. He has served in CID, neighbourhood policing roles and as Commander he has overseen major public events, including the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
His career progression through the ranks has incorporated Divisional Commander for the city of Nottingham, before Chief Officer role appointments leading professional standards, local policing, custody centres and control rooms.
Tips on Promotion
Steve’s responses include sharing highlights from his career, perspectives on the challenge to officers of different police promotion processes, alongside his current expectations of first and second line supervisors.
Having put himself forward to face numerous police promotion processes during his career, I ask him for his thoughts around competitive selection processes and how Nottinghamshire as a force, conduct promotions.
He explains how candidates in Notts are afforded the opportunity to give their best on the day. He goes on to offer bespoke insights and observations, which many aspiring candidates will find helpful and won’t want to miss! Here’s just a few:
“Firstly, we do use the CVF, especially the values which is really important to me and to us as an organisation… the primary thing is to make sure it is fair. So we take all surprises out of it, so we tell people we use the CVF. We will even give candidates the interview questions before they come into interview, not long before, but a number of minutes before so they can make sure they get time to think about their answers and give the best possible answer to the question they are asked…”
“Practice. Don’t let the first time you answer a question be at your interview panel”.
“Whenever we sit on interview panels and feedback, I think people sort of forget, we’ve all been unsuccessful at different times in our career. It is a competitive process, so you know, we have situations here where you have to go to people, ‘you have met the standard but there’s ten gaps and twenty people who have met the standard’…so use it as an opportunity to get across the absolute best you possibly can.”
When he said about ‘practice’, it was music to my ears and something I’ve been promoting for years, often at odds with official (poor) guidance forces give to candidates!
NPCC Portfolio and More…
Additionally we discuss his role as Chief Officer lead for the National Police Chief’s Council portfolio for Integrated Offender Management and Electronic Monitoring. Steve also talks on the qualities he expects from Chief Inspector candidates who looking to step up to the Superintendent rank and beyond.
Finally I ask him, if he could travel back in time and speak to himself, as that young joiner, with what he knows now, what advice would he give? I always find these time machine responses packed with helpful insights for those starting their leadership journey or even career in policing.
As part of his response, Steve offers some valuable reflection on what is especially important to think about for anyone choosing a career in policing.
I hope you enjoy the episode; it was certainly a long round trip from Devon to bring this one to you. It seemed like I had a personal summer escort all the way back to Devon by every caravan owner in the UK!
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“A big thank you, I just passed the Inspector process at the 1st attempt. I used your Insp. toolkit, subscribed to the podcast & purchased your Masterclass Video. I can now concentrate on the job whilst getting back the free time. I definitely put the work in, but in all the right areas thanks to your products.” – Duncan, Inspector
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Kind Regards, Steve
Seeking police promotion? Want a MASSIVE head start right now with the best and best value support going? Hit the ground running with your personal digital promotion toolkit, and/or my market-leading Police Promotion Masterclass and CVF explainers. There’s nothing else like it to effectively prepare you for success in your leadership aspirations. You can also contact me to arrange more personal coaching support. Or try my podcast for your ongoing police leadership CPD covering a range of fascinating subjects.