People applying to join Gloucestershire Constabulary can now practise for a key part of the application process, thanks to a new venture launched by a team of experienced former police officers and staff.

The innovative new concept called Practice to Progress can help individuals wanting to join Gloucestershire Constabulary to prepare for the practical assessments they need to pass to become a police officer.

Using an online platform, Practice to Progress replicates the exercises applicants must pass to join the police and takes them through real time practise sessions with an experienced police assessor. The P2P assessor then provides detailed feedback to the applicant, so they know what they need to improve on before they take the assessment for real.

Alan Baldwin, founder of Practice to Progress and former chief officer, said: "Police forces across England and Wales are trying to recruit an additional 20,000 police officers by March 2023, so there has never been a better time to join policing. The opportunities are there for the taking, but many aspiring recruits don't realise how rigorous the assessment process to join the police service is.

"For those who don't have any previous knowledge or experience of policing, the assessment centre can be really daunting. Unlike exams at school where you get to take a mock test first, there was no opportunity for police applicants to practice their assessment exercises before the real thing. That's why we launched Practice to Progress.

"We want to give aspiring police officers and staff the support they need to give them the best chance possible of realising their ambition to join the service."

The team at Practice to Progress has over 500 years of policing experience in total and all assessors are former senior police officers, staff and service assessors, who have assessed at local and national level.

Alan continued: "We all share the same passion for helping individuals achieve their career goals in policing and want to support the police ambition to recruit thousands of new officers.

"We don't train people to pass assessment processes. We provide them an insight into what it looks like, so they can give their best on the day."

Practice to Progress is already working with police forces up and down the country to help them with their workforce challenges, whether that's helping them recruit more individuals from under-represented groups, helping them to develop their serving officers and staff or training their own assessors.

Now the service is also available to individuals who want to invest in their own careers.