CALL THE FASHION POLICE! Odd degrees of new officers

UNIVERSITY students with degrees in clothing design have been recruited by police to become detectives.

A new scheme allows graduates to avoid being a uniformed bobby and be “parachuted in” as a member of the CID.

Its website says: “You don’t need any previous policing knowledge or experience, and it doesn’t matter if you’ve never previously considered a career in policing.”

Students with degrees in fashion design and musical theatre have made the grade.

They join new cops who studied subjects such as Visual Arts and Japanese Studies.

Critics claim recruits will be “missing a foundation in policing”. They say detectives need experience of patrolling the streets before being allowed to investigate serious crimes.

The students are among the first intake of Police Now’s National Detective Programme.

Avon and Somerset Police has accepted graduates with degrees in fashion, clinical nutrition and Spanish studies. West Mercia gave places to two candidates with Outdoor Adventure Leadership and Management degrees. And North Wales police’s nine graduates included one with a degree in hospitality management.

Kevin Moore, an exhead of Sussex CID, slammed the plan. He said: “The key problem with this scheme is that it means these recruits are missing a foundation in policing before they join CID. It is about the grounding that you get doing every day policing and understanding that not every decision is black or white.

“Every now and then somebody comes along with a new wheeze of what they think might be better. But we had a tried and tested method that had worked for years.”