Officers with the Ashland Police Department teach a defensive tactics class during the annual Lock-In Event. 
This is a great time for SOU CCJ students to learn the tactics officers train in during the police academy and 
every year during defensive tactics recertification. 
 
Oral Board Interview- LET Prep 
The oral board interview is one of the least prepared for testing portion of the LET Prep since the 
questions for an entry-level police officer candidate are very basic: 
• Tell us about yourself? 
• Why do you want to be a police officer? 
• What have you done to prepare for the job? 
There often is the feeling by candidates, that the answers to the above questions are a given and known, 
therefore why would one need to study or prepare for such easy questions? However, that way of thinking 
could not be further from the truth. The oral board interview consists of a table with two-to-four police 
department represenatives, usually a police officer, possibly a volunteer police department representative, and 
one or two supervisors on one side of the table, and one chair placed in the center of the room (or the 
opposite side of the table) for the candidate to sit. This set up is meant to place the candidate on the spot 
and cause some stress to occur. This will help the panel members see how the candidate responds to stress. 
The reason behind this is because the job of a police officer will entail at times, stressful situations and being 
the center of attention when citizens will look towards the police officer for guidance. Therefore, this is one 
way to gauge how the candidate or future police officer will respond in a stressful situation. 
Successful candidates learn positive ways to prepare for the oral board interview by taking college/
university classes, obtaining study guides, writing out answers to the obvious questions, memorizing 
answers, and conducting practice sessions with family and friends where the questions and answers are read 
aloud. 
 
ALISON S. BURKE, DAVID CARTER, BRIAN FEDOREK, TIFFANY MOREY, LORE RUTZ-BURRI, AND SHANELL
SANCHEZ
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