The article discusses the development of professional skills in students, as a condition for the training of a police officer. The research is revealed that the main contradiction of professional self-development of students of educational institutions of higher education of the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia lays between the requirements of the profession to the specialist’ personal qualities and the level of awareness to these requirements by cadets. The pedagogical conditions for the transformation of students’ personal qualities into professional qualities are considered in the article. The students features during the adaptation period are highlighted. The possibility of the professional self-development activation is revealed not only by direct, but also by indirect influence to the students, through the formation of a sociopsychological environment, where professional self-development will be approved. It describes the identification mechanism for the readiness of students to adopt professional qualities in the educational environment through the stages of professional self-development. The main way of transforming personal qualities into professional ones is revealed - this is the formation of professional self-consciousness on the basis of an adequate self-assessment of the knowledge gained about the profession. As a result of the study, the level of professional qualities of students increased. In the described study, the following methods were used: a questionnaire survey, the «Locuscontrol» technique by j. Rotter, a comparative analysis, a content analysis.