No sign yet of staff poaching by the Met

An attempt by the Metropolitan Police to ‘poach’ police officers from Thames Valley Police has so far fallen flat – according to the force’s Police and Crime Commissioner.

In June of this year, a row erupted over Metropolitan police attempts to entice officers from Thames Valley Police to join the Met force instead.

The Met was offering a £5,000 signing-on fee to those officers that transferred.

Thames Valley’s PCC, Matthew Barber, lambasted the recruitment tactic. He said it would not make communities any safer.

“Simply trying to take officers from Thames Valley and other forces to fill a quota this year might mean they get their numbers but it doesn’t do anything to attract police officers or make us safer as a country,” he said in June.

He was also concerned that Thames Valley taxpayer’s money spent training officers would be wasted, and precious time lost. He added that TVP could not hope to compete with the money being offered by the Met.

The Met said at the time that the measures were to make the Met competitive in the London job market.

However, so far, the move has not had the desired results for the London force, a meeting heard.

At the Thames Valley Police and Crime Panel on Friday, September 23, Mr Barber said that poaching ‘poses a real risk’ to Thames Valley Police – but that so far that risk ‘doesn’t seem to be materialising’.

“I’m pleased to say that talking to officers, many have said they were tempted [by the money] but they quite enjoy the Thames Valley and they want to be part of their local force,” he said.

TVP has increased the South East rating to the maximum it is able to set, determined by the Home Office to help try to retain officers.

Caps make it so Thames Valley Police cannot get into ‘a war of wages’ with the Met, said Mr Barber.