COP SHOP SHUTS TO NEW RECRUITS

19-09-2006

West Midlands Police are about to refuse any further applicants to the forceafter record numbers of budding officers applied. Edward Cameron is unimpressed.

Since the launch of 'Your Call' in May, which aimed to recruit more females and minority ethnic individuals into the service, more than 360,000 budding recruits have been logging on to the force website to find out more about the job.

1,700 potential police officers are now going through the recruitment process - forcing the doors to close on any further applications.

This leaves me a little irritated. How much money has been spent on all the thousands of interactive PC-DVDs and gimmicky handouts such as cuff key-rings?

What did West Midlands Police expect would happen Get Paul O'Grady to don a bobby's helmet, Hayley Westenra to record a message in her Kiwi drawl, you're bound to get a sizeable number of wannabes.

But here's my concern: Of those 1,700 how many really ever gave the force serious consideration without celeb endorsement? How many might drop out once they realise just how tough it really is?

I'll admit there's no way in hell you'd get me to be there at the Handsworth riots, when the football hooligans kick off or when the yobs start smashing up the bus shelters.

But then I fail to see how a simple keyring and DVD can really prepare anyone for deciding on such a demanding and potentially dangerous career.

So for the police to bring down the hammer at the end of September and say ‘that's it, no more' is, to me, a little daft.

Having spent so much money on this recruitment programme already there are probably countless more potential coppers giving it some serious thought, and spending the time that others already in the system may not have done.

Turning them away now could be a terrible waste of all that time and effort and it's locking out the many more potential plods who've really taken the time to chew it over and make a proper career out of it.

I guess we should watch this space to find out how many of the new officers give up before the end of their first year on the job.