Respect and empathy: police CVF value examples and how to show it
Updated · 3 min read
Respect and empathy is about treating everyone with dignity, whoever they are and however they're behaving, and genuinely trying to understand their situation and point of view. Police officers meet people at their worst moments, and assessors want to see that you can stay fair and humane with people you find difficult or very different from you.
Respect and empathy is one of the three values at the heart of the College of Policing's Competency and Values Framework (CVF), updated in 2024. Unlike the six competencies, the values aren't usually asked about on their own: assessors look for them in every answer you give. Some forms and interviews do ask about them directly, though, so it pays to have a strong example ready. Our main CVF guide covers the whole framework.
What assessors look for
- You treated someone with dignity, including when they were difficult.
- You tried to understand their situation and point of view.
- You were fair and didn't make assumptions.
- You adapted how you communicated to their needs.
Showing it in every answer
You don't need a separate story to show respect and empathy. In any competency answer, a sentence about why you acted, or how you treated the people involved, can show it. Read each of your answers back and ask: would an assessor see respect and empathy here? If not, one honest sentence about your reasons often fixes it.
When it's asked about directly
- Tell us about a time you treated someone with respect when they were being difficult.
- Give an example of when you tried to understand someone else's point of view.
- Describe a time you supported someone from a different background to your own.
An example answer
Working at an energy company call centre, I took a call from an elderly man who was furious about a large bill. He was rude and accused me of trying to cheat him. I kept calm and let him finish without interrupting. Then I said that a bill that size must have been a real shock, and that I'd go through it with him line by line. As we talked, it became clear he'd recently lost his wife, who had always handled the bills, and that he didn't understand estimated readings. I explained, slowly and without jargon, that the bill was based on an estimate, and asked if he could read me his meter. His real usage was much lower, and I corrected the bill there and then. I also signed him up to our priority services register and sent him a large-print guide to reading his bill. By the end of the call he had apologised and thanked me. A week later he wrote to the company to praise how he'd been treated. I learned that what looks like rudeness is often fear or grief.
- Stays respectful when the caller is rude
- Tries to understand what's behind the anger
- Adapts communication to his needs
- Practical help that protects someone vulnerable
Use a real example from your own life. Values questions are often followed up at interview, and a borrowed story falls apart under follow-up questions.
Common mistakes
- Describing being polite without a situation that tested it.
- Making assumptions about the person in the answer itself.
- Focusing on calming someone down rather than understanding them.
Keep your best respect and empathy example saved alongside your competency answers. You'll be asked about it again at interview, and the same values come up at every promotion. The STAR method keeps it focused on what you did.
Frequently asked questions
- How is this different from 'We are emotionally aware'?
- They overlap. Emotional awareness is about reading and managing emotions, yours and others'. Respect and empathy is about how you treat people: with dignity, fairness and understanding. One example can show both.
- Should my example involve someone from a different background?
- It doesn't have to, but showing you treated someone very different from you fairly and without assumptions is a strong way to demonstrate this value.