Police Federation Vice-Chair: Targeted Police Recruitment Ads Are Great, But Not Reality

28 July 2018, 17:55 | Updated: 28 July 2018, 22:28

The vice-chair of the Police Federation believes police recruitment adverts are "all very well" but don't reflect the reality of policing.

Che Donald told Andrew Castle that while most police forces in the UK are actively recruiting, there is actually negative growth.

He said: "For the 8th year in a row, police officer numbers have gone down.

"The last time the UK population had police numbers where they are now was 1981.

"So you've got to think about population explosion and growth since 1981 to 2018, plus the crimes that we are dealing with now are far more complex, far more different to the crimes being investigated in 1981."

Speaking about the Police Now program, Mr Donald said: "It's all very well to sell the program the way that it is, but...the reality of policing is very, very different."

The Police Now program is a designed train graduates as police officers for a specific area.