Despite popoular belief the police service in England and Wales is not short of applicants. There are currently 43 forces in England and Wales, most are only open for short periods of time to distribute a limited number of application forms. The largest force is the Metropolitan Police Service which at the time of writing this article is also closed for recruitment.
To obtain an application pack, you need to contact your desired force and check to see if they are currently recruiting.
If they are currently accepting application forms, they should then advise you the process for applying - some require an online application form to be completed, while others use a traditional paper-based applications.
The application form itself will take some time to complete - 22 pages to be precise. It requires you to provide personal information, employment history, education, financial and criminal background, plus a very important section called 'competency assessment'.