Police Forward Facing Questions: 12 Examples by Theme

Most officers know what STARR is. Fewer know what to do when the question is forward facing.

Promotion board panels ask two types of questions. Behavioural questions ask you to draw on past experience. Forward facing questions ask you to show how you'd handle something in a role you haven't held yet. These two question types need different answer structures. STARR won't save you on a forward facing question.

PEEL is the framework for forward facing questions. It was developed for State6 and you won't find it anywhere else. This post lists the questions being asked right now and sets a weak answer beside a strong one. For the framework taught in full, with worked answers at every rank, read how to answer forward facing questions at a police promotion board.

What PEEL Stands For

PEEL stands for Position, Evidence, Explore the tension, Lead.

Position. Your view, stated clearly in the first sentence. No sitting on the fence. Panels are listening for a candidate who takes a position, not one who qualifies everything before they've said anything. If the question involves a values conflict or a difficult call, say what you'd do. You can build the nuance in Evidence and Explore.

Evidence. Ground your position in something concrete. A CVF descriptor, a policing principle, a force priority, an HMICFRS finding for your force. Not opinion. Evidence. Two or three named, specific pieces carry far more weight than a vague reference to research. If you can't name the source, don't mention it.

Explore the tension. Every position worth holding has a credible challenge to it. This isn't about listing competing pressures in the scenario. It's the strongest argument against your own position, taken seriously. Most officers treat it as a box to tick. They present the weakest version of the opposition, dismiss it quickly, and move on. Panels see that immediately. Find the argument that genuinely troubles your position. Engage with it honestly. If you can't argue the opposing view convincingly, you haven't done this section properly yet.

Lead. Close with how you'd move things forward. Not a vague commitment to working with colleagues. A specific sequence of actions appropriate to your rank. Include an accountability mechanism. "I would do X, and I would know it was working when I saw Y" is significantly stronger than "I would work to improve things."

You can practise every component inside the forward facing questions guide, then in the PEEL Builder itself once you are signed in.

Start your free trial and build your first PEEL answer free, marked at your rank, no card needed.

Why the Tension Element Matters

Panels don't ask forward facing questions because they want to know what you'd do. They already know what the correct answer is. They're asking because they want to see whether you can hold complexity.

An officer who names the tension demonstrates two things at once. They've shown they can think at rank. And they've shown they won't be surprised when real situations turn out to be harder than the policy suggests.

An officer who moves straight from position to lead sounds decisive. They also sound like someone who hasn't thought it through.

The Questions Being Asked Right Now

Forward facing questions follow the issues panels are focused on. These twelve are the shape of what candidates are meeting at boards across the country right now, grouped by theme. Every one of them asks for a position and a plan, not a past example.

Officer wellbeing

• How would you ensure your team's wellbeing is genuinely supported rather than just recorded?
• What would you do as an Inspector to identify officers who are struggling before they reach a crisis point?

Retaining experienced officers

• What would you do as an Inspector to retain experienced officers in your team?
• Experienced officers on your team are leaving for other forces or leaving policing altogether. As their Sergeant, what could you actually influence?

Violence against women and girls

• How would you improve outcomes for victims of domestic abuse in your area when investigative capacity is stretched?
• What is your view on how the force should prioritise violence against women and girls against other demand?

Neighbourhood policing and public confidence

• Public confidence in your area has fallen. What would you do in your first ninety days as the Inspector responsible?
• How would you keep neighbourhood policing visible and effective when response demand keeps pulling officers away?

Standards and culture

• An officer on your team makes a comment that others find offensive and nobody challenges it. What would you do?
• What is your view on the balance between supporting an officer under investigation and protecting public trust?

Demand and resourcing

• Your shift cannot meet its response times with the officers available. How would you decide what does not get done?
• How would you lead your team through a change they did not ask for and do not agree with?

Two of those themes come up more than any other, and both carry a tension worth understanding before you answer.

Officer wellbeing. HMICFRS inspections have flagged wellbeing as a leadership priority for several years running, and Police Federation surveys show the picture isn't improving. Expect questions like: "How would you ensure your team's wellbeing is genuinely supported rather than just recorded?" or "What would you do as an Inspector to identify officers who are struggling before they reach a crisis point?" The tension is real. Proactive wellbeing support can feel like surveillance to officers who've had poor leaders before. Teams that carry a history of mistrust won't engage with structured sessions, and pushing too hard can damage the relationship you're trying to build.

Retaining officers. Forces are losing experienced officers at constable and sergeant level at a rate that's now showing up in capability gaps. Panels at inspector and chief inspector level want to know you've thought about this. "What would you do as an Inspector to retain experienced officers in your team?" is a live question. The tension is equally real: the levers available to an Inspector are limited, and any answer that overstates your individual influence won't land.

What a Weak Answer Looks Like

Question: "Officer wellbeing is increasingly cited in HMICFRS inspections as a leadership priority. How would you, as a Sergeant, ensure your team is genuinely supported?"

WEAK

I'd speak to each officer regularly and make sure they felt supported. I'd signpost them to occupational health if needed and keep a record of any conversations.

There's nothing wrong with any of that. It's also not a board answer. There's no position, no named evidence, no engagement with the tension, and no accountability mechanism. It describes intentions, not leadership.

What a Strong Answer Looks Like

STRONG

My position is that wellbeing support has to be proactive rather than reactive, because by the time someone needs a formal intervention the trust to use it has often already gone. The Police Federation's 2023 survey found officers who feel actively supported by their immediate supervisor report significantly lower stress and sickness absence. Oscar Kilo's evidence base reinforces that early, informal conversations consistently outperform formal programmes. The tension I have to acknowledge is that structured wellbeing sessions can feel like monitoring, particularly in teams that carry a history of poor leadership. Some officers won't engage if they think it'll be used against them. As a Sergeant, I'd build short individual sessions into the shift pattern, be transparent that nothing said is escalated without their agreement, and measure success by whether officers come to me before things reach a crisis rather than after.

Same question. Scored answer.

Both sources named in that answer are publicly available: the Police Federation’s annual Pay and Morale Survey and Oscar Kilo, the National Police Wellbeing Service’s evidence hub. Using named, verifiable sources is what turns an opinion into evidence.

The Common Mistake

Officers who've practised STARR extensively often try to answer forward facing questions the same way. They reach for a past example when the panel wants a position.

STARR and PEEL aren't interchangeable. STARR is evidence of what you've done. PEEL is evidence of how you think. Promotion boards need both. Make sure you're using the right one for the right question.

Some boards, particularly at inspector and chief inspector level, include a structured presentation task rather than a verbal question. A presentation needs its own structure. The STANCE framework, a State6 Original, is built for exactly that.

If you're not sure which applies, listen for the tense. "Tell me about a time" is STARR. "How would you" or "what would you do if" is a forward facing question. PEEL is your structure. If you're going for promotion in the Metropolitan Police, the whole interview is now future-focused and scored on potential, so this is the core skill the board is testing.

For the full picture of how forward facing questions fit into the promotion process alongside STARR, the CVF and what panels are scoring, see the complete guide to UK police promotion boards.