Q1 Into which sea does the Danube flow?
a) Aral b) Azov c) Caspian d) Black

Q2 Who sculpted the Statue of Liberty ?
a)Maillol b) Buren c) Rodin d) Bartholdi

Q3 Which country does not have a frontier with Iraq?
a) Syria b) Turkey c) Iran d) Egypt

Q4 In which year was Israel founded ?
a) 1940 b)1948 c) 1958 d) 1961

Q5 Harpagon is a character from a play by which playwright?
a)Corneille b)Racine c)Moliere d) Beaumarchais

How did you do? If you know the answers, congratulations, because you might pass the test to join the French police force (as a recruit to become an ordinary constable, that is)

The test, from which those are sample questions, is the 'general culture' one from the tests(there are others on e.g French grammar) for anyone seeking to join the French police, post office, government ministries and many other branches of the civil service/ public service.It employs 20 per cent of the French workforce.

President Sarkozy thinks the test is not culture fair, discriminating in favour of young white men with traditional French educations.(His Civil Service Minister wants to know why a fireman has to pass a history test or know when the Jurassic period was ) Recruits have to have passed the Baccalaureat, school leaver's exam anyway.

What are the qualifications to be a police recruit in the States? Ours have to have a certain level of education (though I long suspected that being able to spell 'handbag' with an H and not how a Londoner pronounces it was all that they required in the Met.)

Qualifications vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, Fred, although having at least some college is now almost universal. I think most require what is called here an Associate's degree. It's a somewhat specialized two year study.

There has been a huge change in requirements, dating from the late 1960s and early 1970s, when most local police merely had height requirements. Detectives were, more often than not, large and beefy. Some of these guys are still around, however.

From the web site of the St. Louis County Police Department -

Qualifications:
You must be 21 years of age and a
United States citizen at the time of
appointment
♦ You must be a high school graduate or
possess a GED, with one year full-time
prior police experience or two years of
military service; have an associate’s
degree or 64 semester credit hours from
an accredited university or college
********
METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF ST. LOUIS

EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS
I hereby acknowledge that as a condition of employment I am required to possess a
minimum of thirty (30) credits from an accredited university or college no later than twentyfour
(24) months from the date I am sworn in as a commissioned officer with this
Department.
If I do not possess the required thirty (30) hours of college credit, my probationary period
will be extended from its current twelve (12) months to a maximum of twenty-four (24)
months to allow me to earn the necessary hours. If I do not possess the required college
hours at the completion of twenty-four (24) months from my date of commission I will be
dismissed by the Chief of Police.
I also understand that to be eligible for promotion to any supervisory or command rank
positions within the Department I must be in compliance with Rule 8.201 of the Police
Manual, which states:
1. An Associate’s Degree and/or 64 college credits from an accredited Institution of higher
education is required for promotion from Police Officer to Sergeant.
2. A Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited Institution of higher education is required for
promotion from Sergeant to Lieutenant and all subsequent promotions.

That's good.What happens when they join? Every intending police constable here has to study at Hendon Police College, whatever their record.That's just to learn the law and procedure and other associated knowledge such as life saving and crowd control.Those who have a degree may be good enough to go straight to Larkshill College, which is for officers.Anyone there gets instant promotion at the start of their career.This may be a mixed blessing. We used to say 'every British Admiral can tie a hammock' because the Royal Navy will make everyone work below decks, however grand they may become and however quickly they have promotion from the naval college.That way they shall know what it is like to be an ordinary seaman,bringing vital understanding of the jobs and thinking of those they'd command.Too many of our senior police have never 'got their hands dirty' and have only controlled a desk, not a crowd, arrested some paperwork, not a violent crook, and had to talk only to worried police inspectors, not worried witnesses.

"What happens when they join?"

Most start at the bottom. Those with previous police experience may start higher in some jurisdictions. In the Metropolitan St. Louis department, new hires with a Master's degree get over $17 a hour while a probationary officer, while just a Bachelor’s degree are paid $16 while a probationary officer.