Where does the interview sit in the WA Police process?
WA runs a three-stage process after your online application. The panel interview is Stage 2. You only reach it after clearing the integrity check, tattoo review, psychological evaluation and the Physical Performance Evaluation (PPE) in Stage 1.
That order matters. By the time you sit in front of the panel, WA already knows how fit you are and has a psych profile of you. The interview is where it hears, in your own words, how you behave with people and under pressure. The whole three-stage process takes about three to four months, according to WA.
- 1
Online application
Step 1With ID, licence history and photos of visible tattoos and piercings.
- 2
Stage 1: initial assessments
Step 2Integrity check, tattoo review, psychological evaluation and the Physical Performance Evaluation (PPE).
- 3
Stage 2: panel interview
Interview stageAssesses teamwork, drive and integrity, analytical and problem solving, adaptability and judgement, and communication; followed by a holistic review panel.
Where this page helps: This is the only stage where you speak for yourself at length. The questions below are built around the five criteria WA lists for it. - 4
Stage 3: final assessments
Step 4Health and medical (P58 standard), vision, full background and integrity check, fingerprints and DNA, and a bankruptcy check. Final-stage costs (first aid, medical, vision, bankruptcy check, fingerprints/DNA) are reimbursed.
- 5
Selection pool
Step 5Placement is not guaranteed; you must confirm your physical ability before recruit school. The 3 stages take about 3-4 months.
For the full process, including eligibility and the Academy, see our guide on how to join WA Police.
What does WA Police say the interview assesses?
WA is unusually clear about this. Its recruitment process page says the panel will assess your suitability for the role against five selection criteria. Every answer you give should be evidence for at least one of them.
Teamwork
- What a strong answer shows
- You did your share, backed others up and put the shared goal first
- Where to find your example
- A time you supported a teammate who was struggling, or changed your plan to fit the group
Personal drive and integrity
- What a strong answer shows
- You keep going when it's hard and do the right thing when it costs you
- Where to find your example
- Finishing something difficult; owning a mistake; refusing to cut a corner
Analytical, comprehension and problem solving
- What a strong answer shows
- You gather facts, understand the problem and pick a sensible fix
- Where to find your example
- A messy problem at work or study that you broke down and solved
Adaptability and judgement
- What a strong answer shows
- You stay calm when plans change and make sound calls with limited time
- Where to find your example
- A shift, event or job where things went wrong and you had to decide fast
Communication and interpersonal skills
- What a strong answer shows
- You listen, adjust to the person and calm things down
- Where to find your example
- Dealing with an upset customer, explaining bad news, or resolving a dispute
| Criterion (WA's wording) | What a strong answer shows | Where to find your example |
|---|---|---|
| Teamwork | You did your share, backed others up and put the shared goal first | A time you supported a teammate who was struggling, or changed your plan to fit the group |
| Personal drive and integrity | You keep going when it's hard and do the right thing when it costs you | Finishing something difficult; owning a mistake; refusing to cut a corner |
| Analytical, comprehension and problem solving | You gather facts, understand the problem and pick a sensible fix | A messy problem at work or study that you broke down and solved |
| Adaptability and judgement | You stay calm when plans change and make sound calls with limited time | A shift, event or job where things went wrong and you had to decide fast |
| Communication and interpersonal skills | You listen, adjust to the person and calm things down | Dealing with an upset customer, explaining bad news, or resolving a dispute |
Criteria from the WA Police Force recruitment process page, read 9 October 2026. The 'strong answer' and 'example' columns are our guidance.
Notice that drive and integrity are paired. Panels often probe both in one question: a time you pushed through something hard without cutting corners. Have at least one example that shows persistence and honesty together.
Interview data in our force file
Our WA data records Stage 2 as: Assesses teamwork, drive and integrity, analytical and problem solving, adaptability and judgement, and communication; followed by a holistic review panel.
What format is the WA Police interview, and what isn't published?
WA describes Stage 2 as a panel interview. Its advice for the day is practical: be punctual, wear smart business attire, stay composed, listen carefully, ask for clarification if you need it, and give clear, concise answers. It also asks you to be open and honest and to be yourself.
Format
Panel
per WA's recruitment page
Dress
Business
smart business attire advised
Length
Not published
check your invitation
Some details aren't on the official page we read. WA doesn't publish how long the interview runs, how many people sit on the panel, whether it is held in person or by video for regional applicants, or how answers are scored. Treat anything you read elsewhere about those points as unconfirmed unless it comes from WA Police itself.
Who can confirm the details
Your interview invitation and the WA Police recruiting team are the only reliable sources for the date, location, length and format. If anything is unclear, ask them before the day rather than guessing.
How do you show Duty, Teamwork, Integrity and Care?
WA Police lists four values: Duty, Teamwork, Integrity and Care. It describes them as the attributes needed by its members, and its recruitment page tells candidates to understand them before the interview. They overlap with the five criteria, so one strong example can serve both.
Duty
- What it looks like in an answer
- Turning up and seeing things through, even when the job is unglamorous or far from home
Teamwork
- What it looks like in an answer
- Relying on and being relied on by colleagues, often in small regional teams
Integrity
- What it looks like in an answer
- Honesty in your application, your answers and your conduct when no one is watching
Care
- What it looks like in an answer
- Treating victims, offenders and the community with respect, and looking after yourself and your mates
| Value | What it looks like in an answer |
|---|---|
| Duty | Turning up and seeing things through, even when the job is unglamorous or far from home |
| Teamwork | Relying on and being relied on by colleagues, often in small regional teams |
| Integrity | Honesty in your application, your answers and your conduct when no one is watching |
| Care | Treating victims, offenders and the community with respect, and looking after yourself and your mates |
Values from WA Police's recruitment and 'who we are' pages. The descriptions are our interpretation for interview preparation, not WA's definitions.
The easiest way to use the values is in the result and reflection of your STAR answers. After you explain what happened, add one sentence that links your choice to a value. Keep it natural. "I think that's what integrity means in practice" works; reciting the list does not.
The panel isn't checking you can name the values. It's checking you've already lived them.
14 original WA Police practice questions
These questions are written by us around WA's five criteria and four values. They are not real WA Police questions, and nobody outside the panel knows exactly what will be asked. What they will do is make you find and rehearse the right examples.
Practice questions mapped to WA's criteria
- 1
Why do you want to be a police officer in Western Australia, rather than in another state or another career?
Motivation · Duty
Be specific about WA: the size of the state, regional service, the Academy at Joondalup. A generic 'I want to help people' answer does not separate you from anyone else.
- 2
Tell us about a time you were part of a team that had to deliver something under pressure. What was your role?
Teamwork
Say 'I' for your actions. Panels hear a lot of 'we did' answers that hide what the candidate actually contributed.
- 3
Describe a time you stuck with a task long after you wanted to give up. What kept you going?
Personal drive
Pick something genuinely hard: study while working, rehab after an injury, a tough season at work. Explain the reason you kept going.
- 4
Tell us about a time you made a mistake at work or study. What did you do about it?
Integrity · Accountability
Choose a real mistake with a real consequence, then show how you owned it, fixed it and changed your habits.
- 5
Give an example of a time you had to understand a lot of information quickly before making a decision.
Analytical and comprehension skills
Walk through how you sorted what mattered from what didn't, and who you checked with.
- 6
Tell us about a problem you solved that other people had given up on.
Problem solving
Show the steps: what you noticed, the options you considered, why you chose one, and how you knew it worked.
- 7
Describe a time your plans changed suddenly. How did you adapt?
Adaptability
Strong answers show calm, a quick reassessment and a clear decision, not panic followed by luck.
- 8
Tell us about a time you had to make a judgement call without being able to ask anyone.
Judgement
Explain the risks you weighed and why your call was reasonable at the time, even if you'd now do it differently.
- 9
Give an example of when you calmed down someone who was angry or distressed.
Communication · Care
Describe what you said and did: tone, listening, giving the person space, finding out what they needed.
- 10
Tell us about a time you had to explain something to someone from a very different background or with limited English.
Interpersonal skills · Care
WA policing covers metropolitan Perth and remote Aboriginal communities. Show you adjust how you communicate rather than expect people to adjust to you.
- 11
How do you think you would cope being posted to a regional or remote town far from family and friends?
Duty · Adaptability
Answer from experience if you can (moving for work, FIFO, boarding school, travel). Name practical coping strategies and the support you'd use.
- 12
A colleague you get on well with asks you to leave something out of your notes to protect them. What do you do?
Integrity (scenario)
Be clear and direct: you won't do it, you'd explain why, and you'd report it through the proper channel if it involves misconduct.
- 13
What have you done to find out what the job of a WA police officer is really like?
Drive · Realistic expectations
Mention concrete research: the Let's Join Forces site, talking to serving officers, information sessions, reading about Academy life.
- 14
Tell us about a time you looked after your own wellbeing during a stressful period.
Care · Resilience
Panels want healthy coping, not claims that nothing bothers you. Sleep, exercise, talking to someone and asking for help all count.
Original practice questions written by Police Pay Australia around the force's published values and criteria. They are not real or leaked interview questions.
Work through them in order. If you can't find a real example for a question, that's useful to know now: it tells you which criterion your example bank is missing.
Score your answer to any of these questions
Paste or speak your answer and get a score out of 10, a STAR breakdown and the biggest fix. Two scored answers a day are free.
Should you prepare for questions about regional WA?
WA describes itself as the world's largest police jurisdiction, and it runs a regional opportunities program. Our data file records that regional recruits get free on-site Academy accommodation and can request placement in their home district for their first four to six years. There is also subsidised housing in designated towns.
WA doesn't publish whether its panel asks about regional service. Even so, it's a sensible area to prepare, because it tests Duty and Adaptability directly. A panel wants to know you've thought about the reality, not just the adventure.
Strong regional answers
- ✓Draw on a real time you lived or worked away from home
- ✓Name specific ways you'd stay connected and look after your wellbeing
- ✓Show curiosity about the communities you'd serve, including Aboriginal communities
- ✓Accept that small teams mean everyone pulls their weight
Weak regional answers
- ✕'I'll go anywhere' with no evidence you've thought about it
- ✕Treating a regional posting as a holiday or a stepping stone
- ✕Assuming you'd be alone, rather than part of a station team
- ✕Generalising about regional or Aboriginal communities
For pay and allowances that apply in regional postings, see our WA Police salary guide.
What does a strong WA answer look like?
Here's a worked example built on STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result). The candidate is invented, and the example is deliberately ordinary: you don't need a dramatic story. You need a clear one that shows the criteria.
Worked example answer
Tell us about a time your plans changed suddenly and you had to adapt. (Adaptability and judgement; Teamwork)
Situation
I was a shift supervisor at a regional supermarket. Two hours before a Saturday close, a storm cut power to half the store and two of my five staff had already gone home sick.
Why it works: Short, concrete and sets up the pressure in two sentences.
Task
I had to keep customers and staff safe, protect the chilled stock and decide whether to keep trading, all without being able to reach the store manager.
Why it works: Names the competing priorities, which signals judgement is coming.
Action
I first checked that no one was hurt and that the exits were lit, then closed the dark aisles with trolleys. I phoned the after-hours maintenance line and was told power could be four hours. I weighed staying open on half power against the risk to stock and safety, and decided to stop new customers coming in and serve those already inside.
I gave each of my three staff a clear job: one on the door explaining calmly, one moving chilled stock to the working cool room, and one with me on the registers. I logged every decision with the time so the manager could see why I'd done it.
Why it works: Uses 'I', shows step-by-step reasoning, delegation and record keeping. This is the part being scored, so it gets most of the time.
Result
We closed 40 minutes early with no injuries and kept most of the chilled stock. The manager kept my notes as the template for the store's outage plan.
Why it works: Specific outcome, plus evidence others valued the approach.
Reflection
I learned to sort safety first, then people, then property, and to write things down as I go. I've used the same order in two smaller incidents since, and I think it's how I'd approach a job as a police officer.
Why it works: Links the lesson to policing and shows it stuck. This is where Duty and Integrity come through.
An invented example written by Police Pay Australia to show structure. Use your own real experience; panels probe details and can tell when a story is borrowed.
Which mistakes cost WA candidates the most?
Because WA has no written exam, candidates sometimes walk into Stage 2 underprepared, assuming the psych and fitness tests did the hard work. The panel is where a strong file can fall over.
Do
- ✓Prepare at least two examples for each of the five criteria
- ✓Answer the question asked, then stop
- ✓Ask for a question to be repeated if you need it (WA's own advice)
- ✓Be consistent with what you disclosed in your application and integrity check
- ✓Use recent examples where you can
Don't
- ✕Recite WA's values without examples
- ✕Give hypothetical 'I would' answers to 'tell us about a time' questions
- ✕Exaggerate a story; follow-up questions expose it
- ✕Speak badly about a former employer
- ✕Treat it as a chat because the panel is friendly
Honesty is the criterion that links everything
WA's own advice is to be open and honest. If you have something in your history that came up at the integrity check, be ready to talk about it calmly and without excuses. A consistent, mature account usually lands better than a defensive one.
How should you practise for the WA panel?
The best preparation is repetition out loud. Writing answers helps you find examples, but the panel hears you speak, and most people ramble the first few times they say an answer aloud.
- 1
Build your example bank
Week 1List ten real situations from work, study, sport, volunteering or family life. Tag each with the WA criteria it shows. Fill any gaps before moving on.
- 2
One criterion a day
Week 2Answer two practice questions per criterion, out loud and timed at two to three minutes. Score yourself on whether the Action part is the longest.
- 3
Get scored feedback
Week 2–3Run your answers through the AI mock interview. The free version scores two answers a day. Redo each answer once with the top fix applied.
- 4
Mock panel
Final weekAsk a friend, ideally someone who has interviewed people, to fire five questions at you without warning. Add a follow-up on each: 'What would you do differently?'
If you want up to 60 scored answers a day in the final fortnight, the AI mock interview's 30-day pass costs A$34.99 and adds model answers and likely follow-up questions. The free tier is enough for many candidates.
Practise the WA panel with AI feedback
Choose WA, answer by typing or speaking, and see which part of STAR is letting you down. Free for two answers a day; a 30-day pass is A$34.99.
WA Police interview preparation checklist
Before Stage 2
- ✓ Read WA's recruitment process page and the four values again
- ✓ Two real examples ready for each of the five criteria
- ✓ One example that shows integrity when it cost you something
- ✓ One example of calming someone down or resolving conflict
- ✓ A specific, honest answer to 'why WA Police?'
- ✓ A considered answer about working in regional WA
- ✓ Your application and disclosures re-read so your answers match
- ✓ Practised out loud, timed at two to three minutes per answer
- ✓ Smart business attire ready; route and parking checked
- ✓ Interview invitation re-read for date, time, location and format
It also helps to know the next stage. Read about the police psychological assessment if your psych evaluation is still to come, and the police medical requirements that apply at Stage 3.
What happens after the WA Police interview?
After Stage 2, WA uses a holistic review panel. It looks at everything gathered so far, not just your interview score, and decides who goes on to Stage 3. A good interview can't fully rescue a poor file, and one weaker answer won't necessarily sink a strong one.
Stage 3: final assessments
- What happens
- Health and medical (P58 standard), vision, full background and integrity check, fingerprints and DNA, and a bankruptcy check. Final-stage costs (first aid, medical, vision, bankruptcy check, fingerprints/DNA) are reimbursed.
Selection pool
- What happens
- Placement is not guaranteed; you must confirm your physical ability before recruit school. The 3 stages take about 3-4 months.
| Next step | What happens |
|---|---|
| Stage 3: final assessments | Health and medical (P58 standard), vision, full background and integrity check, fingerprints and DNA, and a bankruptcy check. Final-stage costs (first aid, medical, vision, bankruptcy check, fingerprints/DNA) are reimbursed. |
| Selection pool | Placement is not guaranteed; you must confirm your physical ability before recruit school. The 3 stages take about 3-4 months. |
Successful candidates enter a selection pool and then go to the Academy at Joondalup for 28 weeks, paid at the Recruit-in-Training rate of $74,309 a year from 1 July 2026. A place in a squad isn't guaranteed, and WA says you must confirm your physical ability again before recruit school, so keep training after the interview. See the WA Police fitness test standards and the police recruitment timeline for what to expect next.
If you're comparing forces, our SA Police interview guide and NT Police interview guide cover forces with similar regional demands.
Free email alerts
New practice questions and WA Police assessment dates
We add new WA-focused practice questions and track changes to the WA Police recruitment process. Get both by email while you prepare for Stage 2.
- ✓New WA practice questions as we write them
- ✓Alerts when WA changes its recruitment stages or criteria
Frequently asked questions
What questions are asked in the WA Police interview?
WA Police doesn't publish its questions. It says the Stage 2 panel assesses teamwork, personal drive and integrity, analytical and problem solving skills, adaptability and judgement, and communication. Expect behavioural 'tell us about a time' questions on those areas. The practice questions on this page are our own, written around those criteria; they are not real or leaked questions.
How long is the WA Police panel interview?
WA Police doesn't publish a length on its recruitment process page. Prepare for a full behavioural interview: around eight to twelve examples you can adapt, each told in two to three minutes. If your invitation gives a time or format, that overrides anything here.
What should I wear to the WA Police interview?
WA Police advises smart business attire. In practice that means a suit or tailored trousers or skirt with a collared shirt or blouse, clean shoes and a neat appearance. Cover anything you'd be asked about in the tattoo review in a way that's consistent with what you declared.
Can you study for the WA Police interview?
WA Police says you can't study anything specific, but you can prepare. That means researching the role, preparing real examples from your own experience that show the five criteria, and understanding the values Duty, Teamwork, Integrity and Care. Practising answers out loud is the most useful single thing you can do.
What happens after the WA Police interview?
After Stage 2, a review panel looks at everything collected about you so far, including the psych evaluation, integrity check and interview, and decides whether you progress to Stage 3 final assessments. Those include the P58 medical, vision, background checks, fingerprints and DNA, and a bankruptcy check.
Is there an entrance exam before the WA Police interview?
No. The current WA process has no separate written aptitude exam. Stage 1 is an integrity check, tattoo review, psychological evaluation and the Physical Performance Evaluation. That makes the panel interview one of the main places you can show what you're like.
Will I be asked about working in regional WA?
We can't say for certain, because WA doesn't publish its questions. It's sensible to prepare for it. WA calls itself the world's largest police jurisdiction and runs regional opportunities for officers, so be ready to talk honestly about how you'd handle a posting away from family.
How can I practise for the WA Police interview?
Write eight to twelve real examples, map them to the five criteria, then practise out loud and timed. Our AI mock interview scores two answers a day for free against STAR and police values. A 30-day pass with model answers costs A$34.99.
Evidence
Sources and how we checked them
Every figure on this page comes from the sources below, read on 9 October 2026. Pay rates and rules change when new agreements are made, so check the source for the date you're reading this. Where we couldn't confirm something from an official source, the page says so instead of guessing. Spotted an error? Read our corrections policy.
- WA Police Force (Let's Join Forces): Entry-level recruitment process — Stage 2 panel interview, the five criteria, the values Duty, Teamwork, Integrity and Care, preparation and interview-day advice, holistic review panel
- WA Police Force (Let's Join Forces): Who we are — the four values described as attributes needed by members
- Let's Join Forces (WA Police Force): FAQs — no standardised aptitude test score; process questions
- Let's Join Forces (WA Police Force): Regional opportunities — regional service context
- Let's Join Forces (WA Police Force): Training at the Academy — 28-week Academy at Joondalup
- Western Australia Police Force Industrial Agreement 2024 (WAIRC, WES338) — Recruit-in-Training rate
Related guides
Joining the police
More in this series
General information, not advice. This guide explains published rules and rates. It doesn't consider your personal circumstances and isn't financial, legal, tax or credit advice. Confirm anything you rely on with your force, your police association, the ATO or a licensed professional.