Met Police is accused of belittling frontline officers

Met Police is accused of belittling frontline officers after Instagram recruitment post promises new managers ‘won’t have to start at the bottom’

  • Scotland Yard has been accused of belittling rank-and-file officers 
  • Force shared job advert promising new recruits will ‘not… start at the bottom’
  • Promoted a national police direct entry scheme run by the College of Policing

Scotland Yard has been accused of belittling rank-and-file officers after posting a job advert promising new recruits will ‘not have to start at the bottom’.

Recruitment chiefs faced a backlash yesterday from senior officers and the Police Federation over the advert for ‘direct entry’ to inspector and superintendent level.

The ad, posted on the Metropolitan Police’s Instagram feed, promoted a national police direct entry scheme run by the College of Policing.

Scotland Yard has been accused of belittling rank-and-file officers after posting a job advert promising new recruits will ‘not have to start at the bottom’. Recruitment chiefs faced a backlash yesterday from senior officers and the Police Federation over the advert for ‘direct entry’ to inspector and superintendent level (file image)

It asked: ‘Are you looking for a career change? Searching for a varied and exciting career where you don’t have to start at the bottom?’

But the wording has provoked fury from senior police officers.

Metropolitan Police Superintendent Roy Smith said the advert ‘shows a real lack of empathy and understanding of the frontline’.

He wrote on Twitter: ‘I’m not sure “where you don’t start at the bottom” is the way I would describe the frontline PCs and DCs who are the bedrock of the Met.’


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Ken Marsh, head of the Metropolitan Police Federation, called the ad ‘disgusting’. He said: ‘One of the unique things about the police is that everyone starts at the same level. When you have elite departments like this that claim they’re better than the frontline it causes problems. That ad tells you how little they think of my colleagues who are already there.’

Mike Cunningham, of the College of Policing, apologised for any offence caused by the advert and said he would be ‘making inquiries to understand how it was posted’.

The row follows a brutal police recruitment video which showed officers getting assaulted, battering down doors and cutting bloodied clothes off victims.

The unconventional clip was produced by Durham Chief Constable Mike Barton, who turned to shock tactics after several new constables left the force saying the job was tougher than they expected.

Mr Barton, whose no-nonsense attitude has transformed Durham into Britain’s best-rated police force, said: ‘What we are saying to people is this is what policing is really all about.’

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