Met Must Consider Graduate Recruits | UK Police News

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Met 'Must Consider Graduate Recruits'

Force needs to entertain university leavers as well as PCSOs and specials, says Commissioner.

Date - 3rd February 2012
Courtesy of - Cliff Caswell - Police Oracle

15 Comments

The Met needs to consider recruiting from channels other than Specials and PCSOs, members of the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee have been told.

Appearing before members at City Hall, Commissioner Bernard-Hogan Howe said recruitment avenues from streams such as university leavers should not be disregarded.

“We want to make sure the portal is open in future.”

He pointed out that a recruitment strategy agreed 18 months ago had put the focus on PCSOs, specials and graduates.

But he suggested that university leavers had not been addressed in the same way as the other groups. “We want to make sure the portal is open in future,” the Commissioner said.

Commissioner Hogan-Howe, who appeared alongside London’s Deputy Mayor for Policing Kit Maltmouse, was speaking as Assembly members debated a £90 million one-off grant from the Home Office to bolster officer numbers.

A Met recruitment drive has seen existing PCSOs and special constables convert to become fully warranted officers along with 160 transferees from other forces. It is anticipated that the Force will have around 33,220 officers in the ranks by March this year.

Commissioner Hogan-Howe suggested the Force was planning for officer numbers to be lower this time in 2013 – as people left retired and left the Force.

Some Assembly members voiced concern that the Home Office grant could been seen as a political gesture, particularly as other forces were having to cut numbers.

But Mr Malthouse stressed that cash from Central Government frequently awarded cash for all kinds of reasons – he also emphasised that London was a special case.

He pointed out that the Capital this year had to contend with the Olympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee as well as the potential for further serious disorder.

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Spike Wright - Fri, 03 February 2012
If a recruit is short on common sense that can not be improved during the probationary period, is this not an indictment upon those responsible for their training. During that two year period they should be got rid of, something I have seen happen rarely: after they have left the training school.
Also it's in their first 12 months on the streets that their acceptability for the job will show out more greatly.
The second 12 months should be the time they are groomed for the department to which they show aptitude, but then their age and maturity has to be considered before they are placed in a department.
Not to have university grads running along side other less educated recruits is bias. It also beggars belief in the credibility of those that recruit and sit on the recruitment panels who refuse to give the public a complete cross section of our society to police them.
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pdcourt - Mon, 06 February 2012
Tempura.You have highlighted the root cause of the problem.Business people who think they can be police officers. After all the moneys not bad !
There is no short cut and you cannot hide behind books and degrees for ever.Come another Orgreave you need to know grass roots policing or you will be found wanting.Do the summer riots ring any bells ?
They never do their time on the street and flit from one course to another that tells them how to be police officers without actually ever doing the job.
I think you will find this is the case in many walks of life and could be why this country is in the state it is in. I include politicians in this equation.
A bunch of public school/lodge members looking after themselves.
On an aside I note how many objectionable comments were reported in this item.None of which bothered me particularly,
Specials,PCSO's wake up, smell the coffee you are being used as a stop gap for lack of government funding.Like it or not you are cheap labour,give it time you will be replaced by' foreign nationals' before long.Why because they are even cheaper. Proof ? look at the NHS.
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DAVID - Thu, 09 February 2012
I was feeling quite depressed until I saw the headline ''Met Must Consider Graduate Recruits'' which made me laugh out loud. Thank you, I really needed cheering up. Does the Commissioner not realise that it was his predecessor, Robert Mark, that got the Force (sorry, Service) into the mess it is in today, by making just that mistake. The MPS moved away from recruiting ex servicemen and started a drive to recruit graduates, thus filling the job with those who wanted to be Bosses rather than Bobbies. Had you asked my Training School class why they joined the job they would have said to a man, ''To arrest criminals''. Yet post Robert Mark whilst on my Sgts course I asked a recruits class why they joined the job and they said to a man, ''To be Commissioner''. I felt obliged to inform them that we only have one at a time. May I suggest that the Commissioner talks to some Policemen.
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Guest - Thu, 09 February 2012
The day when the Police had to meet recruitment targets from certain sections of society was the day that the public started losing confidence in the Police. I dont think that any targetted group or policing in any other name will ever have the support of the general public. The public want full time police officers on the street and they want them to be seen. The Police Service has a responsibilty to advertise all vacancies to everyone and to recruit the best people for the job. In the past the best people may not have been selected due to the politically correct crowd urging Chief Constables to come down favourably to minority groups. This practice should stop now and maybe we can have a Police Service that is fit for purpose.
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