Be a detective... with NO police training!

Recruits could investigate rape cases within a year

RECRUITS to the Metropolitan Police can now become detectives without ever having been a uniformed beat bobby.

Faced with a shortage of plainclothes officers of ‘crisis proportions’, Britain’s largest police force will offer direct entry to anyone with a degree who has lived in the capital for three of the last six years.

After just six months, trainees will be asked to solve burglaries, assaults and muggings. Following a year’s training, successful applicants will be set to work on rape cases – and after two years they can apply to join the murder squad or even the elite counter-terrorism unit.

The move is likely to be copied by other forces battling a detective shortage as staff quit claiming they are overworked.

But last night the Police Federation of England and Wales said detectives need first-hand experience – and warned that direct entry is not a ‘magic bullet’ to solve the recruitment crisis.

Currently officers are required to undergo two years in uniform before they can apply to become a detective. But under the new scheme recruits will be parachuted into a two-year detective training course, spending 18 weeks in the classroom followed by 12 weeks in London’s boroughs alongside retired detectives. Anyone aged 18 to 57 can apply, regardless of their current career, though recruits will still have to undergo rigorous fitness tests, assessments and exams.

The Met hopes to bring in 160 trainees by next year, who will have a starting salary of £29,607.

It comes as Scotland Yard is looking to plug a shortfall of 700 detectives, which senior officers have admitted is impacting on falling crime detection rates.

Last month the Mail revealed the Met has paid more than £200million to a recruitment firm over the last six years to rehire many of its own retirees, including 77 detectives.

However, the Police Federation said that awarding roles to inexperienced candidates would not solve the problem. The Federa- tion’s Karen Stephens said: ‘ We believe that individuals first need a grounding on what it takes to be an officer in the 21st century. Direct entry is not a magic bullet for the current detective shortage, which has reached crisis proportions.

‘ Detectives need first- hand experience of responding in an operational capacity to incidents they would not encounter in any other walk of life.

‘It is essential that we do not create a police service where the only chance of becoming a police officer is if you can afford to educate yourself to degree level.’

But Detective Chief Superintendent Stephen Clayman, who launched the initiative, claims it will attract candidates who are put off by uniformed policing, adding: ‘It’s about bringing people into the police who would never have joined otherwise.’

Since 2014 the government has allowed direct entry for civilians at the rank of superintendent, followed by inspectors last year.

But privately some officers have criticised direct entry to policing.

Rory Geoghegan, of the Centre for Social Justice, said of the scheme: ‘The Met’s new direct entry detectives have the potential to bring new talent and experience to the challenge of solving crime.

‘However, they must have a familiarity with the communities they will serve ... It’s a tall order in six months. Failing to ground these new detectives in the realities of policing will impede their ability to fight crime.’