Recruitment Process

Recruiting for any Police Agency is a comprehensive and timely process. NWPD places huge value on our recruitment process and once an applicant has submitted their application we expect them to be fully committed to our recruitment process, including being emotionally, mentally and physically prepared to be a competitive candidate.

New Recruits

STEP ONE	Application and Security Clearance Questionnaire
STEP TWO	Written Exam and POPAT
STEP THREE	Suitability Interview
STEP FOUR	NWPD Ride Along
STEP FIVE	Panel Interview
STEP SIX	Background Investigation including medical & psychological testing and a polygraph exam
STEP SEVEN	Executive Interview
STEP EIGHT	Eligibility List – Applicant at this stage is considered qualified to fill future vacancies, however there is no guarantee that the applicant will receive a job offer.
STEP NINE	Job offer and welcome to the New Westminster Police Department!

To review our minimum requirements and preferred qualifications for new recruits, please click here.

How to prepare for an interview: do some research on the New Westminster Police, who we are and what we offer. Prepare for knowledge questions about the career of policing and behavioural-based questions. We also recommend that you review our list of competencies. There are 12 competencies listed that are valuable for a police applicant to possess.

At the Suitability Interview, we’ll ask a number of questions about who you are you and questions that will help us know that you understand the role of a police officer. The competencies we ask about at the Suitability Interview are:

Conflict Management
Risk Management
Communication
Decision Making
Ethical accountability and responsibility
Planning and organization

The Panel Interview is a similar lay-out as the Suitability Interview, but the competencies we ask about at this stage are:

Leadership
Assertiveness
Adaptability
Organizational Awareness
Stress tolerance
Teamwork

We suggest you do research about the City of New Westminster and the Police Department, along with research about policing in general. In specific terms, we recommend that you prepare for the competency-based interview questions. There are many references online to help with interviewing.