Department interview

Polygraph Examination & PFQ

STEP 4

Department Interview,
Polygraph Examination & PFQ

Department Interview

The Department Interview will be conducted by a panel to assess your personal accomplishments, job motivation, community involvement/awareness, problem solving skills, interpersonal skills, and oral communication skills. Only those candidates who pass this part of the process will receive a Conditional Job Offer.

Polygraph Examination

Polygraph Examination is conducted to confirm information obtained during the selection process.

NOTE: The Polygraph Examination is now held after the Medical appointment. To schedule your Polygraph appointment, you can contact the Public Safety Division at (213) 473-9060 after your Medical appointment.

Man taking a Polygraph exam.

Physical Fitness Qualifier

Candidates must attend the Physical Fitness Qualifier at least once within 12 months of employment. All candidates will be scheduled for an appointment when they pass the Personal History Statement. If candidates would like to attend subsequent appointments in an effort to improve their performance, then they can choose to attend subsequent appointments as a "walk-in". All walk-in candidates will be accomodated unless the appointment reaches the maximum capacity, at which point subsequent walk-in candidates may be turned away.

Officer timing a run for CAP.

CAP & PFQ

In order to better prepare for the exam and the physical demands of the academy, you are highly encouraged to attend the Candidate Advancement Program (CAP), and required to complete thePhysical Fitness Qualifier (PFQ).. You must complete the PFQ in order to move on to the Medical Evaluation test part. You are encouraged to retake the PFQ as many times as you like, your score is valid for 12 months. If you score less than a 50 on the PFQ, you are strongly encouraged to attend CAP more regularly and retake the PFQ, until you improve to a score of 50 or higher.

The PFQ consists of four events:
This is the same physical fitness test that academy recruits take on the third day of the police academy.

Oral Prep

Sample Questions:

Q: Why do you want to be an LAPD Police Officer?
Q: What have you done to prepare for this career?
Q: Tell us about a conflict you had with someone and how did you handle it (example:  neighbor, school, job; other than family)
Q: What do you feel would be the most difficult or challenging task/situation as an LAPD officer?
Q: Have you ever been given constructive criticism where it affected your performance?
Work on a CLOSING STATEMENT.